Magic and Love
by Sassylou
Summary: Fem!Merlin. Merlin is a huge nerd, and she's just moved to a new town. There she meets Gwen and Lance...and Arthur. Arthur's a prat, and Merlin's a nerd. Not really the best combination. But then they are assigned as partners on a project, and they have to work past their differences. It's my first time doing a gender swap. Hope it turns out all right. Arthur/FemMerlin.
1. Chapter One: A New Start

**Author's Note: So I know that I still need to finish my other Merlin fic - sorry. But I got a bit stuck on that one, and I really don't have a lot of free time to write. But I got an idea for a new one. (That's one of my biggest problems - I get five totally different ideas, and I can't just finish one before I start another one) I don't usually write stuff like this, but...I made Merlin a girl. Arthur's constantly teasing him about being a girl on the show, so I thought it would be kind of fun. It's also set in modern day. Which means...Merlin is a total nerd! It just seemed to work. I love it. I hope you love it, too. I'll actually be able to post a lot of this fic, because I haven't been able to get it out of my mind, and so I've been working on it. The good news is that that means that there will be plenty to read, because the chapters will be posted fairly quickly. The bad news is that that means that there won't be many new posts in my other fanfics. :( Sorry.**

I lifted the last box into my arms and walked up the small set of stairs and toward my bedroom. I set the box on the floor. I couldn't wait to unpack and decorate it. Sure, the walls already looked cool. One wall had grey and black damask wallpaper. With a yellow smiley face, of course. I thought about putting bullet holes there, too, just to tie the whole _Sherlock_ thing together. But I figured my mom would kill me for that. I mean, she and Dad had just bought the house. They would be paying it off for a while. Two walls were red with gold stripes. And the last wall was red with gold wings printed at regular intervals. And one little black Impala hidden among the wings.

My room was going to be the envy of any nerd out there. Well, of any nerd who liked the same stuff as me. _Supernatural, Percy Jackson, the Hunger Games, Star Wars, the Mortal Instruments, Harry Potter, Sherlock, Doctor Who_, and _the Lord of the Rings, _to name a few of my favorites. And just about anything else British.

I might have a small obsession with the British.

And books.

And movies.

And when I say _small_, I mean that it's bigger on the inside. Way bigger.

I looked at my bearded dragon, inside his tank on top of a stack of boxes. Once I got my dresser in there, he would go on top of that. "Well, Kilgharrah. This is it. A new start. New school. New friends. Maybe people will actually think I'm normal this time around."

He just stared at me. He probably thought I was crazy. Then again, he's a lizard. Maybe he didn't think anything at all.

"Are you sure you're going to be happy with these colors?" a voice asked behind me. "It's very…busy."

I turned to look at my mom. "My walls are perfectly nerdy. I love them."

She grinned slightly. "I should have known you'd say that. Let me see if I can guess them all. _Harry Potter_," she said, pointing to the stripes. I nodded. She pointed at the damask. "And that's definitely _Sherlock_. The wall with the wings, is that _Doctor Who_? The one with those creepy angel statues?"

"_Supernatural_. Castiel's wings. Sort of. His wings aren't really gold, but it goes with the color theme. And there's a hidden Impala. Because _Supernatural_ just isn't the same without Baby the Impala."

Mom shook her head at my nerdiness. She thought I was a little weird, but she always indulged my weirdness. I liked that about her. "Are you all ready to start school tomorrow?" she asked, kissing my cheek.

I sighed. "Yeah. I just wish we weren't moving in the middle of the quarter, of the _last_ quarter of the year. It seems a bit pointless to me. But hey, maybe I'll be totally popular here. Unlike back in Ealdor."

"Oh, Merlin, sweetie. I am sorry that we had to move so close to graduation, but the opportunity for this job for me wasn't going to come again. I'm sure everything will be fine."

Of course, I didn't believe her. "Yeah, but what if…what if my magic starts doing weird stuff again? Getting out of control again? People will think I'm a freak. _Again_."

Mom placed her hands on my shoulders, looking into my eyes. "You will be fine, Merlin. Your father says that you're doing very well with your magic lessons. You have your magic almost entirely under control."

"Almost, but not quite. Crazy stuff still happens when I get too emotional, Mom."

"I know. But I think that you won't have any problems. Be more confident in yourself."

"All right, all right," I said, mostly to get her to shut up.

"Do you want any help unpacking?"

I looked around. I did have quite a few boxes-mostly books. But I liked putting my stuff away myself. "Nah, I got it. Thanks, Mom."

She nodded and left.

I would start with my bed.

I absolutely loved my new bed. It was round, and was mounted from the ceiling. I could actually lay under it to read, which was cool. I'd installed some lights on the bottom. At first, I'd been worried that it would fall, but it was pretty sturdy. I'd also painted a Demon Trap on the bottom. Hey, I'm a nerd. I have a lot of nerd stuff. My bedspread was the galaxy, which worked for both _Star Wars_ and _Doctor Who_, really.

Well, at least I would have my room. I had a feeling I would be spending a lot of time in here. I probably wouldn't make many friends.

If any.


	2. Chapter Two: First Day

I looked up at my new school. Avalon High. It was kind of majestic-looking. Almost…magical. I smiled to myself. Mom had told me that I would love the school itself. I hadn't believed her, of course. But looking at it now, I was starting to think she was right.

I went into the office, adjusting my Tardis bookbag.

The secretary looked at me. "Yes? What can I do for you?"

"I'm Merlin Emrys. I'm new here. I need to pick up my schedule and stuff."

The secretary pulled out a file. She handed me a piece of paper. "This is your class schedule. On the bottom is your locker number and combination."

"Thank you."

"Your teachers will provide you with the needed textbooks."

Nodding, I took the paper and left. It took me a few minutes to find it, but I finally got to my locker. I opened it and started taping up my photos, personalizing it.

A girl beside me was opening her own locker. She had chocolate brown skin and dark brown curly hair. She looked over at me and smiled. Her eyes were brown, too. "Hi," she said. "I don't think I've seen you around here. Are you new?"

"Yeah. I just moved here yesterday."

"I'm Guinevere, but most people just call me Gwen."

"I'm Merlin, but most people just call me Nerd."

She chuckled softly. "Well, in my opinion, most people are nerds about something."

I could tell I was going to like her already. "I think I agree."

"Merlin, I would be more than happy to show you around the school, if you'd like. Lance and I both will help you get settled," she said, just as a boy approached and placed his hands on her shoulders. He had very, very dark brown hair and light skin. "Lance is my boyfriend. What's your first class? We'll show you the way."

"Uh…" I looked down at my schedule. "A.P. History."

Gwen smiled. "Well, that worked out perfectly. So is mine, which is a little ironic. Usually only seniors take that class, but I've always been good in history. Walk with me?"

I smiled in return. "Yeah. That'd be great. Thanks."

"We might even have time to take a quick tour right-"

"Lance!" a blonde boy called, interrupting. He hurried over to us. He didn't even look at me, and then he dropped his books into my arms. As if I was his servant or something! "Here, hold these."

My jaw dropped. "Um, excuse me?" I said.

The clotpole totally ignored me! He just continued talking. "Lance, we're moving tomorrow's fencing practice to today. Same time. Percival's got a doctor's appointment tomorrow that he forgot -"

"Hey!" I said loudly.

Nothing. It was like I wasn't even there. "- about. Will that work for you?"

"Hey!" I repeated, louder this time. And then I let the books fall. They hit the floor with a satisfying thump. Finally, I'd gotten the jerk's attention. "I am _not_ your servant. I don't even know you. What makes you think you can just come up to me and drop your books into my arms?"

The guy just stared at me. Gwen and Lance looked like they were both struggling not to laugh. "Who is this?" the guy asked rudely, looking at Lance, who managed to look sober just in time.

"She's new here, Arthur," Gwen cut in. "Her name is Merlin."

Arthur narrowed his eyes at me, sizing me up. "Merlin, huh? What gives you the right to talk to me like that?"

"Are you serious? What gives _you_ the right to dump your crap on me, prat?"

"What did you just call me?"

Lance hurriedly started picking up Arthur's books.

I lifted my chin, looking Arthur in the eyes. I refused to be intimidated by him. "A prat," I repeated. "A big, fat prat."

Lance, holding all of the blonde's books, also managed to grab Arthur's sleeve. "All right, then. We're just going to head to class, before somebody dies." He began pulling the Prat down the hall. "See you later, Gwen. Merlin."

"Well," I said. "He's a royal prat. Isn't he?"

Gwen laughed softly. "Well, his father is the CEO of the biggest technology company in the area. Camelot Corporation. His father acts like a king. I think that's kind of rubbed off on Arthur. He's a bit…full of himself. But he's a good guy underneath. It just…" she trailed off, trying to think of how to say it.

"Takes a while to get to the good stuff?" I guessed.

She nodded, grinning slightly. "Yeah, pretty much. He thinks he's more important than everyone else. He'll come around eventually, don't worry. Besides, you probably won't even see him that often."

I frowned slightly. "It looked like he and Lance were pretty good friends. And Lance is your boyfriend. So if I start hanging out with you, then I'll probably see the Prat more than I'd like."

"Well, maybe. But Lance and Arthur are both seniors. I'm guessing you're just a junior."

I couldn't help but groan. "Oh, no. I'm technically a junior, but I'm on track to graduate a year early. Pretty much all of my classes are senior classes. I hope I don't have any with Arthur."

"Let me see your schedule." I handed her the schedule. Gwen looked at it and winced slightly. "I'm afraid that I have some bad news for you, then. There's two periods that World Mythology is offered, and Arthur is in one of them. Fifth period, right after lunch. Which is when you have it. But I believe that's the only class you have with him."

"Dang it. I'll have to suffer through a class with that Prat."

* * *

><p>I walked into my mythology class and looked around for an empty seat. I was running late, on my first day.<p>

Ah, there was a seat -

Right in front of Arthur.

And of course, it was the only stupid empty seat in the entire classroom.

Trying and failing to keep the scowl off my face, I slumped down in the seat. From my bookbag, I pulled out my _Harry Potter_ spiral notebook.

I heard a snort from directly behind me. "Jeez. Could you be any more of a nerd?"

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to think of how to respond. Then I turned in my seat. I plastered a slightly confused look on my face. "I'm sorry," I said. "I can't understand you. My Tardis doesn't translate stupid."

Arthur just looked at me blankly, as I'd expected him to. Lance, beside him, attempted to turn a laugh into a cough. Well, at least I knew I wasn't the only _Doctor Who_ fan in the room.

Lance grinned at me. "You're a little weird. And nerdy. I kind of like it."

Arthur glared at him. "Lancelot. Don't encourage her."

"What? She's not afraid to be herself, and I respect that. Besides, it was kind of funny."

"How was that funny? It didn't make any sense at all."

"Unless you've seen _Doctor Who_, of course."

Arthur shook his head. "You're impossible," he muttered under his breath. "Why are we even best friends?"

Before either Lance or I could respond, the teacher walked in. She looked annoyingly chipper, with her blonde hair in a perky style. I could tell she was going to be a fan of getting us to socialize with each other.

She smiled at the class. "Good afternoon. I hope you all had a nice, long weekend."

There was collective muttering from the students, but nothing intelligible. Hey, it was high school. We were teenagers. Teenagers don't like to tell adults about our weekends.

But this didn't faze the teacher one bit. Her smile remained in place. "Now, before we start the lesson today, we have a new student in our class."

I sank down in my seat, hoping she wouldn't be able to see me. I hated being introduced to the whole class.

"Ah, there you are. Merlin Emrys, come on up and introduce yourself to the class, please."

"Why?" I asked her. "You just did it for me."

Snickers filled the room. The teacher's smile faltered slightly. I could tell I wasn't going to be her favorite student. Not anytime soon, anyway. Oh well. I didn't really care about that. "Well, come up and tell us a little bit about yourself."

I shrugged. "There's really nothing to tell."

"Merlin," she insisted.

Sighing, I stood up and walked slowly to the front of the classroom. "I'm Merlin. I just moved here from Ealdor. I'm a junior, but I'll be graduating at the end of this year. My favorite colors are blue and red. My birthday is February seventeenth. I am five feet and ten inches tall. My social security number is -"

"Okay, Merlin," Miss Sunshine interjected. I couldn't remember her actual name. "Thank you. You can sit back down now."

That's what I did. The teacher returned back to her lesson. "I'm going to pass out a sheet of paper to each of you. These are your requirements for your next assignment, inventing a destruction myth. You will be working with a partner. I expect equal participation from both partners. Be creative. There may be a chance to earn some extra credit with this assignment, depending on the creativity I see. You will be presenting to the rest of the class. The pairs will be Michael Baxter and Emma Zachary. Maureen Collins and Rebecca Thompson. Lancelot du Lac and Damien Santoya. Emily Ellis and Jonathan Roberts. Merlin Emrys and Arthur Pendragon."

I looked behind me in horror. Well, my first day was officially ruined.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note: Before I go even further into this story, I want to point out that the characters WILL be a bit OOC. Hello, I changed the gender on one of them. Please, please, please don't write me a review to tell me that they're out of character. I know. I'm doing it on purpose a bit. I'll try not to get too far out there, but frankly, they're gonna be OOC. If you don't like it, don't read it! But, if you have anything else to say, feel free to leave me a review. Once again, I appreciate constructive criticism, and not just plain mean criticism. I know that my writing is not perfect and that I miss things. Just be kind when pointing them out, please. <strong>


	3. Chapter Three: Not a Servant Girl

I stared up at the incredibly fancy condo building in front of me, willing myself _not_ to be impressed. It was a little hard. The thing looked like it was from the future. Seriously. It was all sleek and...glossy.

I stepped up to the iron gates. I can't believe I let myself get talked into this. I should have told him I'd meet him at the café or something. Not his _home_. I looked at the callbox, searching for Pendragon.

Finding it, I pressed it. "Hey, it's Merlin. I'm here to work on our…I mean, to work with Arthur on our mythology project." I wasn't sure if it would be Arthur I would talk to, or somebody else. Like a maid or something.

Seriously. How loaded was this guy?

"You're late," Arthur's voice accused through the speaker.

"I know. I'm sorry. Just…let me in, please."

The gate opened. Arthur spoke again. "Third floor, number two. When you come in, my room is the first door on the left. Hurry up."

I rolled my eyes as I went inside, taking as much time as I possibly could just to irritate him. We hadn't gotten together to work on this project yesterday, even though we probably should have. I'd already had a crappy first day. I hadn't want to extend the torture.

I found his bedroom and walked in. Arthur was laying on his bed, tossing a hackey-sack up and down in the air. I set my bag down on the ground and looked around a bit. His room was very…minimalistic. Functional, if absolutely filthy. It was like he expected someone to pick up after him.

Then again, my room could get pretty messy, too. My mom was always on my case about it. "All right. Let's get started, then."

"No," he said. "You get started, and I'll supervise."

I stared at him. "Are you serious? Did you seriously just say that? I'm not going to do all of the work and let you get half of the credit."

"That's how it goes, Merlin. You're a junior. I'm a senior. You do more of the work, and we both get the credit."

"Hell no. You can forget that, you…dollophead. And technically, I'm a senior as well. Sort of."

"Dollophead?" Arthur repeated angrily, finally getting up off his bed. "Did you just call me a dollophead?"

"Yeah, dollophead. _You_ are a dollophead. I refuse to be your…servant girl. I won't do all of the work. If you want half of the credit, you'll need to do half of the work."

"You'll get a bad grade on it if you do that."

"So? I don't care. It's just one assignment. I'll take a bad grade on this one, and then make it up on the next assignment. I'm graduating a year early. You think I can't make up a bad grade easily? You're probably used to people bowing down to your wishes like you're some kind of…princess. But you can forget it. You're an arrogant pig."

"And you're a lazy…nerd."

By now, we were nearly yelling at each other. And _that_ was the best he could come up with? A nerd? "I'd rather be a nerd than an egotistical prat like you!"

A girl with black hair and pale skin poked her head into the doorway. "Um, is someone trying to commit murder in here?"

Arthur and I just glared at each other.

The girl sighed. "You might want to quiet down a bit, though. Dad should be home soon. I'm sure he wouldn't be too happy to hear you guys screaming at each other."

"Whatever," Arthur murmured, plopping back onto his bed.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, I don't see any reason for me to be here, then. I'll do the first half of the assignment. If you want a grade higher than a fifty percent, you might want to do the other half." I picked up my bag and turned to leave.

I heard the girl laugh. "You know, Arthur, if your grade slips much more in that class, you're going to be kicked off the fencing team. You realize that, right?"

"Shut up, Morgana."

* * *

><p>I slumped into my seat at the dining room table. Mom was placing a plate of cookies in the center of the table. "Where's Dad?" I asked, filling my plate with dinner.<p>

"Still at the shop. He should be home soon, but he wanted us to go ahead and start dinner without him."

I nodded, and began eating. I was still angry at Arthur. He really was the rudest, most arrogant prat I'd ever met. I couldn't believe that he had _actually_ expected me to just do half the work. The nerve!

"Merlin!"

I looked at my mother. "What? Why are you yelling at me?"

"Apparently, you've gone a little deaf. I've called your name three times. Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Merlin, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," I insisted. "I'm fine."

She arched an eyebrow at me. "Then why are you murdering your green beans? And the cookies are floating in front of you."

I looked at the air in front of me. Sure enough, there were cookies floating in the air in front of me. "Oh," I said, releasing the spell I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

"What's wrong?"

I sighed, not really wanting to tell her. I also knew I wouldn't be able to get out of it. She would be able to see through any lie. "In my mythology class, we were put into partners to work on a project together. I don't really like my partner. We decided to meet at his house after school today, because we both just want to get done as quickly as we can so that we don't have to deal with each other anymore. But he wants me to do _all_ of the project and still let him get half-credit."

"That's not right."

"I know. I told him to forget it. I'll do my half of the assignment, but I won't do his half as well. I don't care if it gets us a bad grade."

"Merlin, you should care."

"Why?" I asked. "Mythology is one of my best subjects. If I get a bad grade on just one assignment, I can easily make it up. I'm not worried."

Mom looked at me. "Merlin, you can't jeopardize _your_ grade. You should talk to the teacher."

"That would probably just cause more problems. See, his dad is this big-shot in this town. The teacher might not believe me, and might dock me points for it. Besides, it's a matter of principle. He's obviously never had anyone stand up to him. I'm not going to let the jerk walk all over me. He needs to learn to do his own work."

She lifted a single eyebrow. "And you think that you're qualified to teach him, Miss Use-your-magic-to-do-your-chores?"

I blushed slightly, but chose not to say anything. She was right, after all.

Mom sighed. "I expect you to work extra hard on all of your future assignments. Do you understand me, young lady?"

"Yes. I -"

My phone made the sound of Darth Vader's breathing, indicating that I had a text message. I pulled it out. The message was from an unfamiliar number.

HEY. I WANT TO APOLOGIZE.

WHO THE HECK IS THIS?

ARTHUR.

I scowled. The last person I wanted to talk to was Arthur. And I highly doubted he actually wanted to apologize.

Wait a minute…

HOW DID YOU GET MY CELL #?!

GWEN GAVE IT TO ME.

I nearly growled. I couldn't believe Gwen would do that.

I'M GONNA KILL HER.

DON'T. I PRACTICALLY BEGGED HER TO.

WHY?

SORRY. I'M SORRY. I JUST WANTED TO TELL YOU THAT.

I narrowed my eyes. I still wasn't sure that I believed him.

I stood up, already starting to dial the number he'd texted from.

"Where are you going?" Mom asked.

"I have to make a phone call," I muttered, finishing dialing. The phone rang.

"Hello?" Arthur said.

"What are you sorry for, exactly?" I demanded, not bothering with pleasantries.

"Merlin. Look, you were right. I was being a…prat. I shouldn't expect you to do more than your fair share."

"More? Yeah, I'd say that wanting me to do the entire project on my own is more than my fair share."

He sighed. "I know. That was wrong of me. I'm sorry."

"So does this mean that you'll help me with the assignment?"

"Yes. I was thinking that we could meet at the Round Table tomorrow after school? If you want. It's a café just across the street from the school. What do you say?"

"All right. I'll bring my laptop. See you tomorrow. I guess."


	4. Chapter Four: Working Together

I adjusted my laptop bag higher on my shoulder as I walked into the café. Apparently, this was the place to be in this town, because it was pretty dang crowded. It took me a few minutes to find Arthur, but I moved toward him as soon as I did.

"Hey," I said, sliding into the seat beside him. I was still a little skeptical about him. I mean, I didn't know if he would actually be any help on this project, or if he would just find ways for me to do more of the work.

"Hey."

I pulled out my laptop and set it up. "So the assignment says that we need to develop our own destruction myth. We have to pretend that one of the sets of gods that the class has studied so far - and you'll have to tell me which ones those are - is furious with humans and wants to destroy them all. How would they do it?"

"Well, as far as the gods that we've studied already, there's really not too many. The Greek gods and Roman gods, of course. The Mayan and Aztec gods. That's all. This assignment is kind of ridiculous, though."

I frowned slightly. I thought it was kind of cool. We'd never done anything this…interactive at my old school. It was ingenious, in my mind. "How so?"

"Think about it. If the gods wanted to destroy all humans, who would be around to _record_ the destruction myth?"

Huh. Arthur actually had a decent point. "Genetically engineered apes?" I said.

He rolled his eyes. But there was a small smile there. I saw it. He actually thought that was kind of amusing. "I'm serious, Merlin. If she really wants us to think about this assignment in the way that she's told us to, then there would be no destruction myth to write about. Because there would be nobody to record it."

"That's a good point. But I don't think that Miss Mercia would appreciate it."

Arthur sighed. "No, she wouldn't. Don't let the cheery smile fool you. She's pure evil under all that sunshine cheer. I guess we'll figure that little discrepancy out later. Do you have a preference for which gods we focus on?"

I chewed my lip, thinking about it. "Not really. I mean, in my last school, we hadn't gotten to the Mayan or the Aztec gods. We'd covered the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods. So I'm not really familiar with the Aztec or Mayan gods."

"Let's do the Romans, then. They were a more war-ready group."

I nodded. For some reason, it didn't surprise me that his first choice would be the most war-ready group of gods. But it made sense. They probably would be the ones to want to destroy all the humans. "Sounds good. So the first thing we need to decide is what the humans did to make the Roman gods so angry. And are we setting this little scenario up in modern times? Or ancient?"

"Let's do modern. Think about it. It's been centuries since anyone has worshipped the Roman gods. People don't care anymore, let alone believe. As a Roman god, that's gotta make them mad. So, they decide to destroy all the humans."

I made a face.

Arthur narrowed his blue eyes slightly. "What? Do you not like that idea?"

"Well, it's not that I don't like it. But I can't really see the Roman gods waiting centuries to destroy humans for not worshipping them. They're not exactly patient gods. Why would they wait till now to destroy the humans when the humans stopped worshipping them ages ago?"

"True," Arthur said.

We sat there and thought about it, ignoring the other people in the café.

Then it hit me. "Ooh." I sat up straighter, excited. "What if there was a group of humans who, in ancient Rome when the gods were still worshipped, trapped them. Sort of like what the Greek gods did to the Titans. So, maybe they were trapped, and then they escaped during modern times."

Arthur grinned. I was a little ashamed to say that his grin was a bit dazzling. "Perfect. And since they spent so much time being trapped, by humans, they decided to destroy them all once they got out."

"But of course, there's always one compassionate goddess, who will spare some of her favorite humans," I said, getting warmed up.

"And they're the ones who recorded the myth," Arthur finished.

We looked at each other, and then did a high five. I couldn't believe we were so in synch with each other. "That will be perfect," he said. He scooted his chair so that it was right next to mine. "Let's type it up. And then I'll give you my email address and you can send it to me."

Nodding, I opened up a blank Word document.

Arthur was chuckling. I narrowed my eyes at him. "What?" I demanded.

"Your computer background. It's a collage of book covers and movie posters."

"Yeah? So?"

"You are seriously a nerd."

I smiled sweetly at him. "That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me."

Arthur just chuckled.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note: It took me a little while to figure out what sort of project I wanted them to work on together. I found this idea online. I thought it was pretty cool, so I stuck it in here. And considering the fact that Merlin, in the show, is always learning new things about magical creatures, I figured it would make sense for her best subject in school to be mythology. Hope you're all liking it. Please review! And like I said earlier, I'll be able to post quite a few chapters in a row, because I've got them done. But then it will slow down a bit. I've been working on this story for a little while, I just hadn't posted anything till the other day.<strong>


	5. Chapter Five: Almost Caught

I took a deep breath, concentrating. Then I held out my hand. My pair of winged sneakers - it's amazing what you can buy on Ebay these days - hovered in the air. Of course, they couldn't actually fly on their own. That was my magic.

I had them zoom around the room as I added more things to the spell. Pretty soon, I had a bunch of my belongings flying around my head. This was the sort of magic that came easiest to me, making things levitate. I'd been able to do it since I was a toddler, according to my parents.

Other spells were not so easy. And I still struggled keeping my magic under my control all the time. Sometimes, it would do its own thing. That was what I hated the most about having magic. Because when it did its own thing, people thought I was weird. Nobody - except my good friend Will - had ever figured out that I was using magic, though. Nobody believed in magic.

No, they just thought I was weird.

Well, I am. But not because of that.

I heard a knock, and then my door was being opened. Everything that had been floating in the air fell to the ground.

Everything except the shoes. They flapped stubbornly by my ear.

I turned, expecting to see my mom, and squealed lightly. It most certainly was not my mother standing there.

Arthur Pendragon was standing in my open doorway, staring into my room in shock. He hadn't seemed to notice the shoes, so I reached out and grabbed them. I hid them behind my back, keeping a tight hold on them.

"Merlin!" Mom called, from somewhere downstairs. "Arthur's here to work on your project!"

I rolled my eyes. And she couldn't have mentioned this _before_ he came barging into my room and nearly catching me using magic? She knew that I practiced in my room most days after school! What was she thinking? "Thanks, Mom," I muttered sarcastically. "Real helpful."

Arthur was still staring. "Holy cow," he mouthed.

I arched an eyebrow at him. "What did you expect? You're the one who keeps telling me I'm a nerd, not that I didn't know that already."

He shook his head. "Well, yeah. I figured you'd have _some_ nerdy things around. I knew you'd have a lot of books and movies. But this…this is nerd overload."

"No, this is nerd _perfection_, is what this is. And you probably don't recognize any of it."

"I know _Star Wars_ and _Harry Potter_. Everyone knows those. And _The Hunger Games_. And…is your bed hanging from the ceiling?"

"Yep. My dad mounted it for me."

"The candles? They look like they're floating."

I grinned. "They are. It's magic." He gave me a look. I sighed. Obviously, he wasn't a believer. "Okay, it's just fishing wire. It makes them look like they're floating. They're not real candles, either. They're electric." It really was fishing wire. There was no way I could maintain the spell for more than a few hours, if that.

I waited for him to say something else. He didn't. "Arthur? Is there a reason you came over? Or did you just want to stare at my room?"

"Oh. Yeah, um, I just had an idea about something that we could add to our project. Something that might get us some extra credit. You know, like something creative."

"What is it?"

"Well, the Romans always had artwork - mostly statues and vases and stuff -depicting their myths, right? So I was thinking that we could paint our destruction myth onto a vase or two. Or something like that."

"Yeah, but I don't think that the Romans do that as much now as they did in ancient times."

"You're right. But…Oh, what if the survivors painted the myth onto the vase as a sort of…I don't know. Throwback to the old days. A tribute or something."

I thought about it. Then I grinned tightly. I still had a good hold on those shoes. They were trying to escape, and it was not easy to hide that fact from the teenage guy standing there. "You know what? I think that's _actually_ a good idea."

"You sound surprised."

"Oh, I am. I am completely shocked. I didn't know your brain still worked."

He shook his head, but there was a playful grin on his lips. "You are so rude and impertinent. Nobody's ever talked to me like that before. I kind of…like it. You're not afraid of just being…you."

I nearly snorted. If only he knew how far from the truth _that_ was. I was terrified that somebody would find out about the biggest part of myself, the thing that I could never change, even if I wanted to.

My magic.

Sure, I wasn't afraid to be a nerd, or to be rude and impertinent and speak my mind. But I hid the thing that was most entwined in myself. I hid from everybody except my family.


	6. Chapter Six: Admission

I knocked on the door of Gwen's house. A moment later it opened to reveal a grinning Gwen. "Come on in," she said. "Morgana got here just a few minutes ago."

Nodding, I followed her into her room. "Where's your brother?" I asked. Gwen's parents had both died in a car accident when she was fifteen. Her brother had been her legal guardian ever since.

"Oh, Elyan won't be home tonight. So it will be just us."

"Nice. Total girls' night."

Morgana was laying on a bed with a purple comforter, going through a stack of DVDs. "Hey," she greeted, barely glancing up as we walked in.

"We figured we could start the night with a movie," Gwen told me. "Any preferences?"

I gave her an ironic smile. "Come on, you know me. The nerdier it is, the better. But I'll watch anything."

Gwen tried - and failed - to hide a grin. "Honestly, I don't know why we're bothering at all. It's not like we'll watch much of the movie anyway. Morgana will end up starting a gab fest. She always does."

"Not tonight. I'm determined to get through an entire movie without doing any gossiping."

Gwen chuckled, shaking her head. "Yeah, that's what you said last time. And the time before that, and before that, and before -"

"Oh, shut up."

"You've never gone more than half an hour without gossiping. Merlin, go ahead and sit down. Just put your pillow and stuff wherever."

I chose a spot on the floor and got settled. We argued for a few minutes, and finally decided on _The Notebook_. Not one of my favorites - I wasn't a big fan of sappy romances - but I had a feeling that Gwen was right. There was no way Morgana would make it through the whole movie without gossiping.

Sure enough, barely five minutes into the film, Morgana said, "You'll never believe who asked me to the school dance in two weeks."

Gwen shook her head. "Five minutes. Her worst time yet," she mumbled to herself.

"I don't know," I responded, to Morgana's question. "Probably half the school? The male population of the school. Well, the ones who aren't already taken, that it is." Morgana was the kind of girl that guys drooled over.

She smirked. "_And_ some of the ones that are taken, actually. You'll never believe who I said yes to."

"Percy?" Gwen guessed.

Morgana shook his head. "He didn't actually ask. He was one of the very few. Though I probably would have said yes if he had asked. Have you seen that boy's muscles?"

"Gwaine," I said, thinking of the biggest ladies' man in the school. He flirted with _every_ girl.

"No, but he is on Arthur's fencing team. Leon."

Gwen grinned. "You've had a crush on him for a while now. He finally asked you, huh? Good."

"This dance is going to be great. We should totally go to dinner together before. You and Lance, me and Leon. And Merlin, you should come with your date. Whoever he is."

Blushing, I looked down. I picked at the rug underneath me. "Nobody's asked me," I mumbled.

"Seriously?" Morgana sounded shocked. "Nobody's asked you? Not even…Nobody? I can't believe that."

"Well, they haven't. But it doesn't really matter. I probably wouldn't go, even if somebody asked."

My friends looked at each other and frowned. "Why not?" Gwen wanted to know.

"I don't like dances. They're awkward and I'm a terrible dancer and I usually just end up standing on the sides, bored out of my mind."

Gwen smiled sweetly at me. "Merlin, we would _never_ let you stand on the sides and be bored. Trust me. Morgana doesn't let anyone be bored at a dance."

"It's true. I'm an expert at entertainment." Morgana grinned. "Come on, Merlin. There must be somebody that you like, somebody that you'd like to go with. Maybe we could help get the ball rolling or something. Gently persuade him to ask you."

I shook my head, trying not to panic. I didn't want to admit my crush to _myself_, let alone my friends. And I certainly didn't want them trying to set us up. Which Morgana would totally do.

Morgana narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Merlin. Who do you like?"

"Nobody. I don't like anybody. I don't know anybody well enough to like them."

"Merlin," Gwen chided.

I shook my head stubbornly. "Nope. Nobody."

"Merlin," Morgana said sternly. "Don't you dare lie to us. We can tell that you like someone. Who is it?"

I sighed. Based off the looks they were giving me, they weren't going to leave me alone about it until I told them _something_. "I don't really…_like_ him," I started, even though it was a huge lie. I had a major crush on the guy. I just didn't understand how I could have such a big crush on a guy that irritated me so much. "He's just a friend."

Too late, I realized that those words would give it away. Hopefully, they wouldn't notice. I winced, as Morgana smirked. Dang it. She noticed. "A friend, huh? Well, as far as I know, you only have two friends who are guys. Lance. And Arthur."

I felt my cheeks get hot. Great. Just great. Betrayed by my own body.

"And judging from the way your face just flared up when I said my brother's name, I'd have to say that you like him. A lot."

"No," I adamantly denied.

Morgana just laughed. She laughed! "You like my brother! You totally do. Just admit it, Merlin. You like Arthur!"

A little angry and way embarrassed, I threw my pillow at her. She just kept laughing. "All right, fine! I like Arthur! Beneath all of his…prattiness, he's actually a nice guy. But he doesn't feel the same way, I'm sure of it. I'm nerdy, which he's only too happy to point out. And he's popular. The two don't mix. Ever."

Gwen arched a dark eyebrow. "You two are friends. Best friends, really. And Morgana and I are friends, even though she's way more popular than I am."

"I'm getting her there," Morgana said. "Gwen's more popular than she thinks she is."

"My point is, Merlin, that the two _do_ mix. More than you might think."

"Okay, fine. Friends, sometimes. But boyfriend and girlfriend? That never happens."

"Um, Lance and Gwen have been dating forever. And Lance is pretty much as popular as Arthur."

"Yeah, but Lance is…He's not like most other jocks and popular guys. He's actually kind of…human. And Gwen is definitely not a nerd."

Morgana shook her head, rolling her eyes. "You know, I should take offense to that. It's almost like you're saying that _I'm_ not human because I'm popular. But I won't take offense to that, because I'm better than that. I think you should make a move. I'm pretty sure that Arthur's reaction would surprise you."

"No. I'm _happy_ with the way things are right now." Even though I wasn't. Not really. "We're friends. I won't expect anything else. And I don't want to try to make it into something else and end up ruining what we already have."

Instead of backing down, like I'd hoped, Morgana just got an evil look on her face.

Oh, crap.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note: Morgana is not evil in this story! I always thought that she could be a really great person, given the chance. She started off great on the show. And in this fanfic, she doesn't have any magic. Sorry. But I think that without it, she's able to stay true to herself and be the nice person she was before all of that drama with her magic. Oh, and I made her and Arthur as full siblings, instead of just half. It was easier that way.<strong>


	7. Chapter Seven: Shopping

Morgana was practically dragging me down the sidewalk. I couldn't help but groan. I was _not_ looking forward to this. At all. "Tell me why we're doing this again," I complained. "I hate shopping."

"Nobody hates shopping."

"I do!" I insisted.

"Whatever. The dance is in exactly nine days, and _I_ need a dress. Which means that I need the expertise of another woman to tell me which dresses actually look good on me."

"Why couldn't you force Gwen to do this?"

"Because, Merlin, Gwen is way too nice for something like this. She won't tell me if I look terrible in something. But I know that you'll be honest with me. Brutally so. I want that."

I frowned at her. "You want me to be brutal?"

"Well, maybe not _brutal_. But honest. If my butt or hips look big in a dress, absolutely do not let me buy it. I have to look drop-dead gorgeous for this dance."

As if she wasn't already drop-dead gorgeous. "Whatever."

I was pulled into a dress shop, where Morgana proceeded to pull dresses off the racks, mostly lacy black things. And a few emerald green ones as well.

And then I was forced to sit there as she tried each of them on and modeled them. And she wanted my opinion! Honestly, she could look great in anything. She could make a potato sack work. I didn't understand why I had to be there. It was torture. Seriously. Absolute and complete torture.

She finally decided on a long, strapless emerald green dress. It had a slit on one side that went clear to her mid-thigh. She did look stunning in it, but I was ready to go. More than ready.

I stood up, as she started texting somebody. She was probably sending a picture to Gwen or something.

I expected her to go to the counter to pay for her new dress. But she moved toward another rack instead. A rack that was a size smaller than her. A rack that was suspiciously my size. I've always been tall and scrawny. With little boobs.

"Um, what are you doing?" I asked.

"It's your turn!"

"What?" I squeaked, hoping that I'd misheard her. I doubted it, though.

"Look, I saw this perfect dress for you earlier. It's your favorite colors. And shoes!" She held up a red and blue cocktail dress and a pair of strappy red heels. She was smiling.

I took a step backward, my eyes wide. "No. Morgana, I'm not going to the dance. There's no reason for me to try it on."

"Oh, you're going, if I have to drag you there myself. You know I'll do it."

"I could never afford that," I said, desperately trying to get out of going to the stupid dance. I hated dances.

"Don't worry about that. I'll pay for it."

My eyes were probably the size of saucers by that point. "I can't let you do that."

"Sure you can. My dad give me a large shopping fund. He doesn't care what I buy. It's nothing, seriously. But," she added, before I could argue further, "I know that it's a big deal to you. So I'll let you tutor me or something to pay me back. I'm seriously falling behind in English."

"I'm not going to the dance, Morgana," I repeated.

"Yes, you are. I'm going to make sure of that. It's pretty much already set in stone."

"Morgana -"

"Merlin, I've got it covered. Trust me. I'm going to make sure you go to that dance with a totally hot guy, and that you enjoy yourself while you're there. I've made it my personal mission, and you aren't getting out of it. Now, go try on this dress."

Sighing, I snatched the red and blue _thing_ from her and stomped into a dressing room. I grumbled to myself as I stripped. I would try it on, but there was no way I was going to like it. I didn't look good in dresses. Ever. Maybe she would give up when she realized that.

I pulled on the dress and zipped it up. Then I turned to look in the mirror, and was surprised. The dress actually looked…good on me. I looked pretty hot. For once. The top part, starting just under my boobs, was red, with just one strap over my right shoulder. The fabric was sort of…ruched. I think that's the word. The bottom part was blue. My favorite shade of blue, too, and it was…I would have to call it a bubble skirt. It just seemed bubbly to me. It came to just above my knees.

Wow.

I actually loved this dress. I never even liked dresses, let alone loved them. Damn Morgana and her impeccable fashion sense. How could she have found the one dress out of the entire store that would look good on me - on the first try! She was a fashion genius.

Grinning ever so slightly, I left the dressing room with a twirl. "What do you think, Morgana?"

"Whoa," said a voice that was most definitely _not_ Morgana's. It was deep. And familiar. And I just wanted to die with embarrassment. "Is that really you, Merlin? You look…amazing."

I froze, staring at Arthur in horror. What was he doing here? What was _Arthur_ doing in a women's dress shop? "Um…What are you doing here?" I asked, voicing my exact thoughts. I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Morgana texted me." So she hadn't been texting Gwen after all! That dirty rat! "She wanted me to come by and pick up some things that she'd bought. She does that all the time. She said that she had to run a very important errand. Which, for her, is usually some designer purse or something. I didn't realize you'd be here. She didn't say anything about it."

I sighed, a little disappointed. I'd actually been looking forward to wearing this dress, even if it did mean I had to do some tutoring. But there was no way I could afford it. And I certainly wasn't going to ask Arthur to pay for it.

"I…I guess I'll just change and put this dress back, then," I said.

The store clerk, who was just barely within earshot, gave me a look of surprise. "Oh, no. Miss Pendragon has already paid for that dress. As well as the shoes. She said that she was certain they would work for you."

I was stunned. Morgana had already paid for the dress? She was that sure that it would look good on me?

Arthur shook his head, a confused look on his face. "I think Morgana is up to something."

I couldn't help but grin at that. "When _isn't_ she?"

"True. Hey, Merlin, do you want to go out to lunch or something? With me? I mean, you don't have to. Just…if you want to." He sounded almost...nervous. But Arthur didn't get nervous. He was always so confident.

Blushing, I looked down at the dress I was wearing. I think I knew what Morgana was up to. I wasn't sure if I should be grateful toward her, or just annoyed. But I couldn't change it now. And it seemed to be working. "Uh, sure. Just let me get changed first."

"Right. Of course. Merlin?" he called, as I turned toward the dressing room.

"Yeah?"

"You really do look amazing in that dress."

My blush deepened. "Thanks."


	8. Chapter Eight: You're the Voice

I turned on my iPod, letting my favorite song blast through the speakers. I grabbed my hairbrush from the dresser as the words came through. I sang along to them, dancing around my room. My hair was still wet from my recent shower and kept slapping against my back. But I didn't care. This was my favorite song ever. I sang loudly.

"We have the chance to turn the pages over. We can write what we want to write. We gotta make ends meet, before we get much older. We're all someone's daughter. We're all someone's son. How long can we look at each other, down the barrel of a gun? You're the voice, try and understand it. Make a noise and make it clear. Oh-wo-wo-wo, oh-wo-wo-wo. We're not gonna sit in silence. We're -"

"- not gonna live with fear," somebody sang from the doorway. "Oh-wo-wo-wo, oh-wo-wo-wo."

I spun around with a small shriek.

Arthur stood in the open doorway, a grin plastered to his face. His grin spread even wider when his eyes flicked to the hairbrush still in my hand. I quickly hid it behind my back, turning off the music. My cheeks were probably bright red. I really hoped he hadn't seen much of that. Knowing my luck, he'd probably seen the whole thing.

"Uh…hi."

"Hi."

I couldn't think of anything else to say for a moment. "How do you know that song?" I finally asked. It was the only thing I could think of. "It's by an Australian guy, from the eighties. I'd peg you as more of current pop type." It was an older song. I'd come across it by chance, and then I'd fallen in love with it. I was obsessed.

He shrugged. "Usually I am. But for some reason, _You're the Voice_ is actually my favorite song."

I just stared at him. "You're kidding."

"What? No, why?"

"It's _my_ favorite song. That's just crazy."

He chuckled softly. "Yeah, that kind of is."

"What are you doing here? And how long were you standing there, watching me?"

"Since you picked up the hairbrush. I was tempted to let you get through the whole thing, but I just couldn't resist singing along. Your mom told me to come on up."

I groaned. "I am seriously going to have a talk with her about that. She _never_ warns me beforehand." And considering the fact that she was always going on about not letting anybody find out about my magic, I thought this was a little ironic. I did practice my magic most days. What was my mom trying to do, get me caught?

Sheesh.

"Hey, I'm not complaining. I like catching you off your guard."

I couldn't help but blush at that. "Just great. What did you want? Other than to harass and embarrass me?"

"I…wanted to ask you something," he said, suddenly sounding nervous.

Now I was intrigued. Arthur didn't really get nervous, as far as I could tell. "Yes?" I prompted.

"Well, the dance is one week away, next Friday night. I know that you have a dress, one that you'll look great in. What I don't know is if you have a date."

I grinned slightly. Morgana totally set this up. She had to have. I had a feeling that she'd deny it if I asked her. "You're asking me if I have a date to the dance? What would you do if I said yes? What if I said no?"

He sighed. "Merlin. Just answer the question, please."

"No, I don't have a date."

"Would you want to…go with me?"

"_You're_ asking _me_ out? To a dance?"

"Well, actually, I was kind of hoping that it could be more than just the dance. I was kind of hoping that you'd be…my girlfriend."

I grinned. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that."

He sighed in relief.

"Were you worried I would say no, Arthur Pendragon?"

He gave me a sheepish grin. "I never know _what_ to expect from you, Merlin. You're constantly surprising me. Besides, from what I understood, you hate dances."

"I do. Usually I'm just bored at them. But Morgana has promised to keep my entertained, and I don't doubt her. And I really do like hanging out with you. It might be fun. I'll give it a shot, at least."

"Well, thank you. I actually did have another reason for coming over. I thought that we could practice our presentation for Monday. I almost have it memorized, but I'd like to run through it a couple more times."

"Sounds good…boyfriend."

* * *

><p><strong>I had to slip that song in here somewhere. I love that Bradley and Colin are such fans of this song. I started listening to it, and I've become obsessed with it. I love it.<strong>


	9. Chapter Nine: Destruction Myth

I quickly changed my clothes in the girls' bathroom. When I came out, Arthur was waiting for me, dressed in his own costume. He grinned. "Well, I think we look like we're living in hiding from angry gods," he said. "The dirty, slightly futuristic clothes are totally working for you, by the way."

"Miss Mercia better appreciate all the work we've put into this. Oh, I put the finishing touches on the vases last night. The borders and stuff." I pulled the vases from my bag and handed them to him. One vase depicted the entrapment of the gods, and then their escape. The other vase showed the destruction that the gods rained down on the humans, and Vesta hiding a group of humans to protect them.

He looked it over. "These looks amazing, Merlin. You're a talented artist. I can't believe how well all the scenes turned out. They seriously look awesome."

I blushed. "Thanks. My dad owns a relic shop. He likes to buy Greek and Roman stuff whenever he can. I've studied it a lot over the years, and practiced copying it."

"It looks great. You ready?"

"Yeah." I took his hand and we walked into mythology. I saw Miss Mercia raise an eyebrow in our direction.

She was totally going to love our presentation.

We were the last pair scheduled to go. Which was just fine with me, actually. We had the best project, I was sure of it. It was way better than anybody else's who'd gone already.

"Arthur and Merlin, are you ready?" Miss Mercia asked.

"Yes," I answered.

We went to the front of the room, Arthur carrying the vases. I took a deep breath, and then began. "It's no fun, being one of the last humans alive. That's a lot of pressure, you know. The future of the human race depends on _us_. Eventually, we'll be expected to have children, to help carry on our species…but my boyfriend and I aren't ready for that yet. I never thought that my decision to have children would be influenced by the threat of extinction. But that's what happens when there are only thirty humans left in existence. Just thirty. Everyone else is gone now. Our families. Our friends. Gone. We're the last humans on the planet."

Arthur took over. "It all started centuries ago. In ancient Rome, the gods were worshipped by nearly all. They were the deity of the universe, practically. At least, that's how they saw themselves. But not _everyone_ loved the gods. And slowly, over time, they stopped worshipping them. The gods grew angry and jealous, as they're prone to do. They began to plot the demise of the humans. They wanted to rid themselves of the ungrateful creatures, as they called us."

"But some of the people could see the signs," I said. "They knew the gods were getting angry. They knew it was only a matter of time before the gods destroyed them all. So they decided to take action. They trapped the Roman gods, far beneath the surface of the earth to protect themselves. They were lured there by the humans, and then sealed in with Vulcan's tools."

Arthur gestured toward the class. "Life went on for the humans. The gods became nothing more than a myth to them, to be studied in high school classrooms." Arthur and I couldn't help but grin a little bit at that. "Humans evolved, inventing and building amazing things. Always growing in their knowledge. All the while, the gods remained trapped in the ground, growing angrier and angrier as the centuries passed. A vow was made by all of the gods, with the exception of Vesta: When they escaped, they would destroy every last human."

"And escape they did," I added sadly. "In the year two-thousand-twenty-one. You see, there are limits to everything, even the power of the gods. Over the years, the powers keeping the gods trapped became weaker. Weak enough that one ill-placed shovel allowed them to break free. The archeologist who had given them freedom was struck down, killed on the spot. He was, after all, a human."

Arthur pulled his face into an expression of utter sadness. "And then began one of the worst times in human history. Throughout the entire world, the gods destroyed humans. Fire rained down from the skies. Lightning struck with deadly accuracy. The elements attacked. Pets turned on their owners. The humans were defenseless against the gods. There was no hope for defeat, let alone survival. The fury of the gods was a terrible thing."

I held up a picture of a painting of Vesta. "But one young goddess, Vesta, loved humans. She admired their tenacity, their stubbornness. She understood that they had only trapped the gods in order to protect their homes, their families. She didn't want to see them wiped off the face of the planet. So she chose thirty of us. She hid us, protected us from her fellow gods, from her very own family."

"Underground, where we've been hiding, technology is useless. So we've written it down, for the generations that will come after us. We've also found many different relics down here, even some vases. My girlfriend and I figured we'd paint them like they did back in ancient Rome. It's definitely not easy, living underground. But we're safe. We're alive. Right now, that's all that really matters."

"And someday," I said, taking over. "We will come out of hiding. Someday, we will be a strong race again. Someday, we will face the gods."

Arthur and I looked at each other. Together, we said, "And defeat them."

We sat back down.

Miss Mercia stood up. "Well done, Arthur, Merlin. That was excellent. Would you mind if I passed your vases around the class? Did you paint these yourselves?"

"Merlin painted most of them," Arthur said. "She's an incredible artist."

My cheeks burned.

Once Miss Mercia's attention was _not_ on us, I texted Arthur.

I THINK WE ROCKED IT.

ACED IT. EXTRA CREDIT FOR SURE. THOSE VASES SEALED THE DEAL.

YEAH YEAH. YOU KNOW, I'M GLAD WE WERE PARTNERS.

ME TOO.

OTHERWISE YOU PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE A DATE TO THE DANCE. :P

HAR HAR MERLIN.

I smiled to myself. I was feeling pretty good. We did awesome on our project.


	10. Chapter Ten: Favorite Book

Arthur and I laid under my bed, finishing off the last of the pecan ice cream. "What is that?" he asked, pointing above us.

"Oh, that's a Demon Trap." He gave me a blank look. I sighed. Sometimes, it was just so hard to have a non-nerd for a boyfriend. "You know how I like a lot of different TV shows? One of them is _Supernatural_. They fight demons - among many other supernatural things. If you paint this symbol on a floor or a ceiling - or the trunk of a car - it traps a demon. So, hypothetically, if you or I were a demon, we'd be trapped under here."

Arthur shook his head.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What?" I repeated.

"You worry me sometimes."

"Oh, shut up."

"Hey, what's your favorite book? I'm curious."

I scrunched up my nose. He always asked the difficult questions. "I don't have one."

He turned to stare at me. "That's not possible. You _love_ books. How can you not have a favorite?"

"The problem is that I _do_ love so many books, Arthur. I can't choose. I have many, many favorites. _Harry Potter_, of course. Any book about Percy Jackson is good. _The Princess Bride_, that's a classic. Oh, it could be _The Mortal Instruments_. Or really, any book by Cassandra Clare because she's an absolute genius when it comes to writing. I also love Megan Whalen Turner's series, about Eugenides, and -"

"Okay!" he interrupted, with a small laugh. "Okay. Jeez. Sorry I asked. I get it. You like too many to choose just one."

"What's _your_ favorite book?" I questioned. "I know you're not much of a reader, but you have to have one favorite."

A sexy grin spread across his face. "Ah, see, I can't tell you that."

I started at him. "And why not?"

"I have a policy. I can't tell any girl what my favorite book is until at least the sixth date. You and I are only on our second. Which, considering I asked you out six days ago, is kind of a record for me."

I wasn't sure what he meant by that, but I would let it slide. For now. "Third," I argued.

"Second."

"No. This is our third date, right now. Our first date was the day I got my dress for the dance, before we started actually going out. And then Monday night, when we went bowling. And now today."

He rolled his eyes. "This doesn't really count as a _date_, Merlin. I came over to help you and your parents set up your backyard grill."

"To start off with. But then we ended up eating ice cream together, and now we're talking about books. That's a date if I've ever heard of one."

He chuckled, shaking his head at me. "Of course you would consider talking about books to be a date."

"Of course. But even if I didn't count talking about books to be a date, eating ice cream together is definitely a date."

"But, it doesn't really matter if it's the second or third date, because it's still not the sixth."

"Why won't you just tell me?" I whined. "Unless…it's something really girly, isn't it? Like _Little Women_. Or is it something stupid, like _Twilight_?"

He looked offended at that. "Absolutely not."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Please?"

"No."

"I don't see what the big deal is. By tomorrow night, we'll be at our fifth date."

Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Fifth? Have you forgotten how to do math? _If_ we count today as a date - which I'm still not convinced it is - then the dance tomorrow is our _fourth_ date. Not fifth."

I grinned. "Ah, but we have a dinner date _before_ the dance. Two separate dates."

"Uh, no. The dinner and the dance are _one_ date. Nice try, though."

I huffed. "I'll just ask Morgana," I threatened. "She'll tell me."

"Good luck with that. Morgana doesn't know."

"Morgana knows everything."

"Morgana _thinks_ she knows everything. She doesn't."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'll find out what it is. You know I will."

"You won't. You can't."

"I can."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah. Because you're a cabbage head."

"Cabbage head? That's a new one."

"Well, it suits you."

Grinning, Arthur lightly elbowed me. So I elbowed him right back.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, sorry about the remark about Twilight. I know a lot of people hate it, and a lot of people love it. I, personally, love it. However, I admit that the plotline really is stupid. That's all there is to it. It's a stupid plotline. I still love the book, though. <strong>

**But Merlin doesn't.**


	11. Chapter Eleven: The Dance

Arthur and I walked into the dance together. I hated to admit it, but I actually felt kind of…excited, even though I hate dances.

But we looked _hot_. Seriously. I had on the red and blue dress Morgana had gotten me - tutoring her was so totally worth it - with the red heels. I'd found a dragon wraparound earring for my left ear, and wore just a silver stud in my right. The only other jewelry I had on was a silver cuff on my right upper arm. Morgana had done my hair into an intricately braided bun…thing. I was feeling sexy, for the first time in my life.

And Arthur…Wow. He wore a red button-up shirt that matched my dress perfectly. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and the top few buttons were undone. His black pants fit him perfectly, in all the right places. If you know what I mean.

And we'd had a great dinner. We'd decided not to go to dinner with the others, but Arthur instead took me to my favorite restaurant. He opened all the doors for me and paid and everything. So far, it had been a perfect night. I didn't even think that my inability to dance could ruin it.

Hopefully.

"Do you see them?" I asked.

"Not yet. Oh, wait. There's Morgana and Gwen."

We made our way over to our friends. Morgana was stunning in her green sleeveless gown. She'd left her hair down, in soft curls, but she wore a gold circlet around her forehead, like they did in medieval times. Her make-up was dark and dramatic, and her heels were ridiculously high. I would probably die if I tried to walk in those heels.

Gwen wore a lavender ballgown, with beautiful flowers embroidered on the bodice. It had short cap sleeves, and a low waistline. She had her curls piled intricately on her head.

Gwaine and Percival, two of Arthur's fencing buddies, stood nearby with their own dates. Arthur, I noticed, was fidgeting a bit. Like he was nervous about something. I wasn't sure what he could have been nervous about.

"Where's Leon and Lance?" I asked.

"Getting drinks," Gwen answered.

Morgana looped her arm through mine, a huge smirk on her face. "You know that you and Arthur are only together because of me, right?" she asked. She sounded very proud of herself for some reason. Granted, I _was_ pretty sure that she was responsible for it. And despite the fact that _she_ thought she was responsible, she would always deny it when I asked her if she had set us up.

Morgana confused me. I didn't understand that girl.

Gwaine laughed. "I still can't believe you asked her to the dance. I thought you said she was an obnoxious nerd?"

I turned to glare at Arthur. "Obnoxious? Is that really how you described your girlfriend to your friends?"

He tugged on his ear, looking downright ashamed. "Well, actually -"

"Wait," Percival interrupted. "You mean to tell me that you two are _dating_? Since when?"

"Last Friday," Arthur mumbled.

Angry, I put my hands on my hips. Not that I had expected him to call all of his friends up the night he'd asked me out and tell them, but it had been an entire week. How did you start dating a girl and _not_ tell your closest friends after an entire _week_? Unless... "You didn't _tell_ them? Are you ashamed of me? You're too…arrogant to admit that you're dating a _nerd_?"

Arthur was starting to look panicky. "No, I…It's just…"

"I seriously can't believe you. When it's just the two of us, you have no problems with my nerdiness. You think it's _cute_. But now that we're with your friends, suddenly you can't admit your feelings. You're such a…prat!" I could hear my voice starting to rise. I didn't care. I was mad.

"Merlin, calm down."

"Calm down?" I repeated. "Arthur, I can't believe how pigheaded you can be! You just -" I broke off in surprise when warm lips crushed into mine. Arthur.

Arthur was kissing me.

On the lips.

In front of his friends.

He pulled back, smiling almost sheepishly. "Sorry," he said, though I couldn't think of a single reason why he should be sorry. "I just couldn't think of any other way to shut you up."

Without really thinking about it, I pulled him closer again so that _I_ could kiss _him_. Hard.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so I hope you guys like this chapter. I didn't like it quite as much. It just...I don't know. I'm not as happy with it as I've been with most of the other chapters.<strong>


	12. Chapter Twelve: Upset

I sat curled on the couch, absolutely miserable. The phone was pressed to my ear, but I was starting to get really annoyed with the conversation. Or, more accurately, with the person who had initiated the stupid conversation to begin with. I really was just sick and tired of talking to him. Why had he even called me? I didn't want to talk.

"Is everything all right, Merlin?" Arthur asked. Sheesh, it had only taken him about ten minutes of talking to figure it out. "You sound upset."

I scowled, even though he couldn't see it. "What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded.

"Um…nothing, really. Just that it sounds like something is wrong with you."

"Great. So now something's wrong with me, is that it? I'm not good enough for you?"

"What? No, of course not. There's nothing wrong with _you_. I just meant that it sounded like you weren't feeling good or were upset about something. Jeez. Where do you…Why are you being so…so…"

"So what?" I asked flatly. Arthur didn't answer. "Oh, what, now you're too chicken to just come out and say it? Huh?"

I heard Arthur sigh through the phone. "Merlin, seriously -"

"You're so...rude!"

"Look, I'm sorry! I don't even know what I'm doing wrong. I'm trying to be...supportive, and you're just yelling at me. Look, I really don't want to do this over the phone. Why don't we go to the Round Table, and have dinner together? If I'm doing something wrong, let me know, and I'll try to fix it."

"You know what? I don't want to talk to you anymore. And I definitely don't want to meet up for dinner. You…you…jerk." I angrily hung up, which was not satisfying at all. It's less dramatic to press a button than to slam a phone into its cradle. At that moment, I would have preferred the drama of slamming the phone into a cradle.

I grabbed my stuffed Hedwig, and held her close to my chest. "Why are guys so stupid, Hedwig? They just don't get a clue. Ever."

I needed something to distract myself. I was irritated, my head hurt, my back hurt, and I was tired.

_Star Wars_. _Star Wars_ would be the perfect distraction.

I got the movie out and started playing it. Well, one of the movies. Episode IV, _A New Hope_. Personally, I liked the older ones, with Luke, better than the new ones. I mean, they were the originals. Which, of course, meant that they were much better. It didn't hurt that Han Solo was such a hottie back when they filmed those movies. He still is, to be honest. He might be old now, but he's actually still kind of hot.

I settled myself down to watch the movie. I covered myself with a blanket, even though it really wasn't very cold. It just wasn't the same to watch a movie without having a warm blanket over me.

It would be even better with some Swedish Fish, though. And Wild Cherry Pepsi. They were my favorites. Unfortunately, I didn't have either of them at home. We did have some Mike and Ikes somewhere. They were almost as good.

But I was too lazy to get back up and find them.

About twenty minutes into the film, there was a knock on the front door.

I ignored it. It was a Saturday evening. My parents were out on a date and would be back any minute. And I was busy sulking. If I ignored the door, the person would go away.

Except that they didn't.

The knock sounded again and again. Finally, frustrated, I stood up and went to the front door. I opened it with a huff.

Arthur stood there, with his hands behind his back. I scowled at the sight of him. "What do you want?"

"To see you. You really did sound upset on the phone earlier. So…I got you some of your favorites." He pulled his hands from behind his back. He had a pizza box, Munchies, Wild Cherry Pepsi, Swedish Fish, and Rolos. "And a pizza, for dinner. I don't know if you've eaten yet or not, but I figured I'd bring it."

My eyes watered a bit. I couldn't believe he had done something so sweet. "Arthur…"

"Look, Merlin, I don't know what's going on, but obviously something is making you upset. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I'm here for you. I just want you to know that, all right?" He stepped inside the house and set the food down on the side table just beside the front door.

I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Thank you," I whispered. "Wanna watch _Star Wars_ with me?"

"Sure. Wanna tell me what's wrong?"

I snorted. "Not a chance." There was no way I was going to tell him that I was upset because I was on my period.


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Discovering a Secret

I plopped down into Gwen's couch. "So where's your brother today?" I asked. I had only seen Elyan twice in all the times I'd been over to Gwen's house. And I'd been over to her house a lot, actually. Morgana, Gwen, and I had all become really good friends really quickly.

She rolled her eyes. "Who knows? He's never where he should be, that's for sure. I did tell him we were doing a get-together today to celebrate the fact that you and the seniors are graduating in three weeks, so he knows. Not that he cares."

I sighed. "I still think you're lucky, you and Morgana. I wish I had a brother. Or a sister. It was kind of annoying, growing up as an only child. My parents never had anyone else to divide their time with."

"I don't know, Merlin. Elyan is mostly just obnoxious. I mean, I'm glad that he became my legal guardian so I didn't have to go into foster care. But I feel like I've always taken care of myself. And he can be so rude sometimes. Anyway, let's not talk about brothers right now. Well, not _my_ brother, anyway. How are things with you and Arthur?" She elbowed me lightly.

I blushed. "Great, actually. But I've been meaning to ask you about something. Morgana. She keeps insisting that we're together because of her, yet she denies it when I ask her directly about it. She set up that whole thing with the dress shopping, didn't she? To try to get Arthur and I together?"

Gwen struggled to hide a grin, which was really all the answer I needed. "And what makes you think that I know the answer to that question?"

"Oh, please. You two have been best friends since third grade. I _know_ you know."

"All right. Yes, she set that up. You know Morgana. She gets an idea into her head, and she just can't let it go until she's done everything in her power to make it happen."

I sighed. "I know. And I figured that was what she was doing. I'm glad she did it."

Gwen narrowed her eyes at me, studying my face. "Merlin. What aren't you saying?"

"It's just…I wonder if Arthur really likes me for _me_, or if he just has that image of me in that dress stuck in his head."

"First of all, he definitely has that image stuck in his head. You looked amazing in that dress. But Arthur wouldn't still be with you if he didn't like you for _you_. He's not like that."

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. "He gets bored easily, with girls. Or he has in the past. Merlin, he's never really had a steady girlfriend. Not until you. The most dates he's ever been on with one girl was four, and that was with me."

I felt my eyes bug slightly. "You and Arthur…_dated_?" Nobody had ever mentioned that to _me_ before. And I certainly wouldn't have guessed it.

"Not really. Like I said, it was four dates, if you could even call them that. Then we just…stopped. Of course, that was right about the time that Lance moved here and the three of us started hanging out. I sort of fell in love with Lance. Arthur and I decided not to see each other anymore. We're still good friends, though. He likes you, Merlin. He likes you a lot."

I chewed my lip. "Would it be totally crazy if I said that I was starting to fall in love with Arthur?"

"No," Gwen answered, just as her front door silently opened and Lance tip-toed in. It was obvious that he was trying to sneak up on her. _I_ only knew he was there because I could see him. "Sometimes, you fall hard and fast for a person. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Right, Lance?" She was grinning.

Her boyfriend sighed. "How do you always know it's me?"

She giggled once. "I can't give away my secrets, now can I?" She stood up, turning around to lightly kiss Lance's lips. "I'm going to go out back and set up the tables and chairs. Will you guys grab the food and bring it out? I'm sure Arthur and Morgana will be here any second."

"Sure."

Lance and I went into the kitchen. I piled as many dishes of food into my arms as I could, making a pretty impressive stack, if I do say so myself. I had to concentrate, though, to not drop them.

"Want help with that?" Lance asked.

"I got it." I started moving toward the door.

And immediately realized that I did not, in fact, have it. The platters started to fall. Panicking, I used my magic to hold them in place, then fix them. With a sigh of relief, I took everything outside.

Morgana and Arthur were just arriving. Before I could go greet them, I was being pulled aside.

"What was that?" Lancelot asked.

I honestly didn't know what he was talking about. "What?"

"With the fruit just now. I saw it start to fall. And then it just…hung there. And _then_ it was all back in place. How did you do that?"

I glanced over at Arthur, hoping he wasn't able to hear this conversation. He was setting a tray of hamburgers on a table, talking to Gwen. "I didn't do anything," I lied. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Merlin. Yes, you do. I know what I saw. Tell me." I looked at Arthur again, biting my lip. "I promise I won't say anything to Arthur, not if you don't want me to. Or anybody else, for that matter. What did you do?"

I sighed. It was obvious he wasn't going to leave me alone. And he wasn't stupid. He'd see right through a lie. "Magic. I did magic."

His eyes widened slightly. Then he nodded. "All right, then."

That was _not_ the reaction I'd expected. Not at all. "That's it? All right?"

"Yeah, that's it. Hey, I think it's cool."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. It's awesome."

"And you really won't tell?"

"Not a soul."

I smiled. You know, it would be kind of nice to have at least one of my friends know the truth about my magic.


	14. Chapter Fourteen: I Love You

I sat on my bed, my cell phone pressed to my ear. "Are you feeling any better today, Merlin?" Arthur asked.

"Not really," I said with a sniffle. "It's been two days, and I still feel like crap. My head is killing me. I can't stop sneezing. My throat is on fire. I've sucked on like, ten cough drops so far today. I'm just glad it's Friday. I should be over it by Monday. Maybe."

"Well, I've picked up all of your assignments for yesterday and today You actually didn't miss much work. It's been kind of a slow week. I'll bring them by for you. I think most of the teachers expect them back by Monday."

"No!" I objected. I didn't want Arthur to come by and see me all…ugly. My face was blotchy. My eyes were red. My nose was red and slightly chapped from all of the tissues. And to make matters worse, I kept sneezing. And nearly every time I sneezed, something magical happened.

_Not_ in a good way.

When something magical happened around me, it could get crazy. It could get downright weird.

So far I'd managed to make my mattress spin enough to nearly make me vomit, my books talk in foreign languages, my dresser sing opera, my door tell knock-knock jokes, and my bearded dragon giggle like a little girl. Seriously, he sounded just like a five-year-old girl.

"Why not?" Arthur wanted to know. "You need your assignments. How else do you expect to get them? From what you said earlier, you're in no state to come over to my place. You're probably all drugged up on cough medicine right now, aren't you?"

I chose not to answer his last question. I sighed. "All right, fine. Bring them by. But just give them to my mom. _Don't_ come up to my room."

"Merlin, why not?"

"Because I said so. Please?"

"Whatever. I'll be over in a little bit."

We hung up. "Mom!" I yelled. My mother entered the room, looking at me expectantly. "Arthur's stopping by to drop off my homework. Don't let him come up."

"Why not, dear?"

I scowled at her. Was she serious? "Because, Mom, I'm all sick and gross. And my sneezing is making my magic go whacko."

Shaking her head, Mom went back to whatever she was doing. Only a few minutes later, I heard a knock. Then the front door was opened, and closed again. Footsteps sounded in the hallway, and then there was a knock on my bedroom door.

I rolled my eyes. "Mom, you don't have to knock right now. Just come in."

The door opened. "Hey," Arthur said, as he walked in.

Squealing, I sank down and yanked my blanket up so it was covering most of my face. "What are you doing?" I demanded. "I told you not to come up!"

"I didn't listen. Obviously. Besides, your dad said it was fine."

My dad. Dang it. How could I have forgotten to talk to him as well? "Why?" I wanted to know.

"I wanted to check on you."

"Well, I'm fine. Okay? So you can go n-" I broke off with a loud sneeze.

Behind Arthur, all of my DVDs floated into the air. Panicking, I made them fall. At least that magic outburst was mild, compared to the other things that had happened when I sneezed.

Arthur spun around at the noise of falling DVD cases. He was frowning. "What was that?"

I shrugged. "Um, I probably just had too many movies on that shelf. It was bound to fall over at some point."

He shook his head and looked back at me. He took my hand in his own. "Let me take care of you, Merlin. I'll help you get better."

"How? By getting sick yourself? What can you do that my mom's chicken noodle soup can't?"

"I don't know. I just…I want to help you, however I can."

"Why?"

"Because, Merlin, I think…I think that I'm in love with you."

I wasn't quite sure what to say to that. I think my jaw fell open. "What?" I whispered.

He took a deep breath. "I don't think, actually. I_ know_. Merlin, I have fallen in love with you. You're just...so you. I love it. And because I love you, I want to take care of you. So let me do this. Please."

I smiled at him. "Arthur, that means a lot to me. It really does. But I don't think that there is anything that you can do for me, not really. I'll be fine. My mom's got it covered."

"I just...I feel useless. I hate the idea of you sitting here, miserable, and me not doing anything to help. There's gotta be _something_ that I can help with."

I thought about it for a minute. "You know, if you really want to do something for me, you can get me hot fudge sundae."

He arched an eyebrow. "Doesn't dairy irritate your throat even more?"

I scowled. Why did he have to remember that? "Fine. Get me some ginger ale, and saltine crackers. Please. I think Mom ran out this morning. I don't know if she was going to get some more tonight or not."

Arthur nodded. "I'll do that. I'll stop by again later tonight." He stood up and walked toward the door. Before he actually left, he paused, and looked back at me. "Wait a minute. You never said anything about...loving me back."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I love you, dollophead. I've loved you for a while now."


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Make Me a Sandwich

Arthur and I were snuggled together on his couch, watching TV. His father was working late, as usual. Morgana and his mom were out shopping. I had yet to meet either of his parents. He seemed to be trying to avoid it. I was willing to let him - for now. But I was going to demand to meet his parents pretty soon.

"I'm hungry," my boyfriend stated, not even looking away from the TV screen.

I looked at him. "And? What do you want me to do about it?" Of course, I should have known better than to ask that question.

"Get me a sandwich or something."

I couldn't believe it. Was he seriously telling me to do that? "You have two feet. Use them, and go make yourself a sandwich."

"You're the girl. Go get me some food."

Oh, he did not just say that. I glared at him. I seriously couldn't believe this. He could be an arrogant prat, but this…this was ridiculous, even for Arthur. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Go."

I was about to chew him out some more, and then I changed my mind. If he wanted a sandwich, I'd give him a sandwich. I stormed into his kitchen and began slamming things around as I put together a sandwich. I made sure to add some…interesting ingredients. Red pepper flakes, garlic salt, cinnamon, jalapeños, Teriyaki sauce, hot sauce. Hey, he never said what _kind_ of sandwich he wanted. And if he wanted to act like a jerk, then he would get what he deserved.

I brought it back to him, slamming the plate with the sandwich onto the coffee table in front of him. He reached for it, and my magic moved it away from him. Hey, I was going to have a bit of fun with this. Not only was he going to get a nasty surprise once he bit into it, but he was going to have to _work_ for that nasty bite.

Frowning, he reached for it again, just as the door opened and Lance walked in. Again, the plate moved away from him. This time, though, the plate fell off the coffee table. It landed on the floor, the sandwich miraculously still together. Which was a good thing, because if it had fallen apart, Arthur would have known what was inside it. Of course, when I say that it was miraculous, it really had nothing to do with a miracle. It was held together only with my magic.

Lance gave me a look, as if he could tell that I was using magic. Like I said, he's a smart guy.

"Pick that up, Merlin," Arthur instructed.

Seriously? He was going to order me around _again_? I gave him a disgusted look. I didn't know what his deal was today, but I was getting tired of it. "No. I've told you before that I'm not your serving girl. I'm your girlfriend. You don't get to order me around. Pick it up yourself."

Sighing, Arthur stood to pick up the sandwich. As he bent down, I used my magic to pull down his pants, clear to his ankles. I struggled not to laugh as he rushed to cover his _Doctor Who_ boxers.

I _knew_ I'd gotten him hooked on that show.

Lance, trying and failing not to laugh, looked at me. "Really?" he asked softly.

"He's being a prat," I whispered back. "He deserves it."

Lance shook his head. "Magic?" he said, nearly under his breath.

I just shrugged.

Arthur, with his pants fixed, sat back on the couch. His face was slightly red. He took a massive bite of the sandwich and started chewing.

I burst out laughing when he spit it back out. "What the _hell_ did you put on this thing?"

I couldn't stop laughing to answer him. He stood up and rushed into the kitchen, presumably to wash out his mouth. With the amount of stuff that I put on it, I doubted that a single glass of water would do him much good.

Lance frowned at me. "What did you put on that sandwich?"

"Oh, just stuff I found in the kitchen. Turkey and cheese, his favorite. And then I added some mayonnaise and mustard, also things that he likes. And then I put on some red pepper flakes, hot sauce, Teriyaki sauce, jalapeños, garlic salt, and cinnamon. That'll teach him to order me around."

"Remind me to never get on your bad side."


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Telling Arthur

I stood beside Arthur's locker, waiting. We were planning to meet up with Lance and Gwen and go see a movie. Gwen wasn't there yet. She was talking to one of her teachers about an assignment. I didn't know where the boys were.

Lance approached. "Where's Arthur?" I asked.

"Government, I think. It probably just went late. As usual." Well, that was true. Arthur's government class never got out on time. "Gwen?"

"Talking to Mr. Nemeth. She has to miss his class on Friday, for a dentist appointment, so she wanted to hand in her assignment early."

Lance nodded. "She would do that." He hesitated, and then added, "Merlin, I want to talk to you about something."

I narrowed my eyes. I wasn't sure what his tone meant. "What?" I asked warily.

"It's about…your magic."

I looked around worriedly. Fortunately, nobody seemed to be listening to us. "I'd really rather not talk about that here. Anybody could hear. Anybody could hear us."

"Don't worry. I'm not going to ask you any questions about it. Not really. I just want to know if you've told Arthur about it yet?"

I shook my head. "No. You're the only one who knows. Well, besides my family. My dad has magic, too. And my uncle Gaius."

"Gaius? The uncle who is a doctor here in Avalon? He has magic?"

I grinned. My uncle was a very popular doctor around here. He was very successful in healing - in part because of his magic. "Yes. He is my only uncle, you know."

"Huh. I wouldn't have guessed that."

"Nobody ever does. He doesn't use it very much. Only when he can't do anything else to save someone. And, of course, he has to be really careful so that nobody realizes what he's doing."

"Why haven't you told Arthur?"

"Are you kidding me? He would never believe me. He'd think I was crazy. And if he _did_ believe me, he'd think I was a freak. He already thinks I'm weird."

Lance grinned. "You _are_ weird. But Arthur likes your weirdness, even if he won't admit it. He wouldn't think you're a freak."

"He'd hate me," I whispered. "I wouldn't be able to handle it if he hated me."

"You don't know that he'd hate you. I don't think that he could, Merlin."

I gave him a look. "He's grown up with Uther. From what I understand about Uther, he hates anything out of the ordinary. I doubt that Arthur's even told him about me, because I'm nerdy and I don't fit into Uther's 'perfect person' mold. Magic is definitely not in that mold."

"Maybe, but Arthur is not his father."

"He's not. But he does share some of the same beliefs as his father. It's better if he doesn't know about my magic. He's not ready to know."

"He might be."

I shook my head. Gwen and Arthur were walking toward us, and I was done with this conversation.

* * *

><p>I couldn't sit still. Arthur and I were curled up together on a beanbag chair in his den.<p>

I had been thinking about what Lance had said earlier that day. He was right, of course. I _should_ tell Arthur. If we truly did love each other, we'd get through this. He would accept me for myself.

I hoped.

"Merlin. What is going on with you today? You seem…nervous."

"Nothing. Nothing's going on."

"Merlin."

I smiled sweetly at him. Maybe he didn't have to know. Not just yet. I could wait a little while longer. Maybe another week or two. "There's nothing going on. Don't worry."

"Merlin. I'm not stupid." I had to bite my lip to keep from snorting at that. There were times that he could be incredibly stupid. "I can tell that there is something going on. Please don't lie to me."

I took a deep breath. "Okay. I…I have to tell you something. You're not going to like it, but I feel that you need to know. Just…please don't freak out on me."

He frowned. Well, maybe that wasn't the best way for me to start. Oh, well. Too late now. "Merlin, what -"

"Just…wait. I will explain. I just…please don't interrupt me. This is extremely hard for me to talk about, Arthur. You have to understand that."

"Okay," Arthur said slowly.

I took a deep breath. "I…I have magic, Arthur. I was born with it." I carefully avoided looking at him while I talked. I didn't want to see his face. "I love you, Arthur. I truly do love you. And if we're going to keep seeing each other, then I think that you should know that about me. It's a big part of who I am. It's a big part of my life."

I didn't look up. I held my breath, waiting for an explosion. _Something_.

He was silent.

Finally, I peeked up at him. He was staring at the wall. "Arthur?" I hesitantly asked.

"Tell me this just a joke, Merlin. I know that you like to read about stuff like this, but…Merlin, this is real life. Magic isn't real."

"It is. It's been a part of my life since the day I was born. It's not a joke, not to me."

He shook his head. He wouldn't look at me. "No. It's not possible. No."

"Arthur," I said quietly. "Look." I held out my hand. A wispy dragon formed in the air, flying around in circles.

Arthur stood up and moved away from me. "Get out," he said, his voice cold and distant.

"Arthur -"

"Get. Out. You…We're done. We're over. I don't want to see you again."

Tears filled my eyes as I stood up. "Arthur, please, just -"

"Get out. I have nothing else to say to you."

My heart broke as I left the den. I was starting to cry softly as I rushed toward the front door, hurrying past Morgana's room.

"Merlin?" Morgana called.

I ignored her, and made my escape outside just as a sob escaped. I should have known better than to tell Arthur.

A hand on my shoulder stopped me. "What's wrong?" Morgana asked.

I wiped at my eyes. "Nothing is wrong."

"I don't buy it. Not if those tears are anything to judge by. Come on. If you won't tell me on your own, Gwen will help me get the answer out of you."

"Morgana -"

She held up a hand to cut me off. Then she started pulling me down the street. Gwen only lived a block away from Arthur and Morgana, so it only took us a few minutes to walk there.

Morgana opened Gwen's front door, without even knocking. She did that all the time. "Gwen!" she called loudly. "We have a girl emergency!"

Gwen came out from her bedroom. "Merlin? Morgana? What's going on?"

"Merlin is extremely upset about something. I'm guessing that it involves Arthur in some way, but she won't tell me what it is. So you and I are going to get the answer from her."

Gwen looked at me. "What happened?" she asked firmly.

I sighed. "We broke up," I admitted.

"Why?"

I bit my lip in an attempt to keep myself from crying. I shook my head. "It's…stupid."

But Morgana and Gwen just couldn't let it go. For nearly twenty minutes, they continued to pester me.

Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't like it really mattered all that much. They'd find out about it soon enough. Arthur would probably tell Morgana, who would tell Gwen. "He broke up with me because I told him that I have magic."

Gwen and Morgana just stared at me. "Magic?" they said together.

I nodded miserably. They probably thought I was crazy.

Gwen smiled softly. "Well, that makes so much sense. I always knew there was something different about you, Merlin."

"But now Arthur hates me. He couldn't even look at me after I told him."

They both hugged me tightly. "Well, that's just stupid of him," Morgana said. "From this point on, I'm officially disowning my brother."

* * *

><p><strong>So I wanted to make Merlin's revelation in this fic be similiar to the show. Similiar, but not exactly the same. And then I figured that Morgana - since I've made her a nice person in this fic - should disown Arthur for it. I could see her doing it. You know, the Morgana from before she went all crazy evil? That Morgana was actually a decent human being.<strong>


	17. Chapter Seventeen: Trying to Fix It

I held my books close to my chest as I walked down the halls of the school. I really didn't want to spend my last two weeks of school miserable, but it looked like that was exactly what I would do. I had tried calling him all weekend. Nothing. He wouldn't answer my calls or texts. I was hoping that I would be able to talk to him sometime today, to get through to him. I hadn't seen him all morning, though. He'd managed to avoid me so far.

Which was why I was walking toward my own locker after lunch later than I usually did. Maybe, in his attempt to avoid me, I'd be able to talk to him.

Arthur was standing at his locker. I called out to him, desperate to fix things. I didn't want to lose him. He meant too much to me. Far too much.

He looked at me, and then turned away.

The rejection was obvious, and pierced my heart. I sighed, and went to my own locker. Closing my eyes, I leaned my forehead against the cool metal. Maybe I would be able to talk to him during mythology class.

Maybe.

I got my books and headed toward fifth period.

From a nearby alcove, I heard Lance's voice. "Arthur." I froze. I wasn't sure that I really wanted to hear this. But I couldn't seem to move away, either. "Listen to me. You're being an idiot. You need to at least _talk_ to Merlin. It took a lot of courage for her to tell you about her magic. You could try to be a bit more understanding."

"You knew, didn't you?" Arthur's voice demanded. "About her…_magic_." He said the word like it was some sort of disfigured creature or deadly disease. Like he was disgusted by it.

"Yes. I found out a little while."

Arthur groaned. "Great. That's just wonderful. You knew about it before I did. It's bad enough that she apparently has freaking magic. But then she goes and lies about it to me? And tells other people before me? How many other people knew before me?"

"No one else. She didn't even want to tell me. I saw her using it. Arthur, do you even realize how upset Merlin is right now?" Lance demanded, and he actually sounded upset. For my sake. "She really loves you. And I know that you love her, too."

"No." I covered my mouth to stifle a gasp when I heard Arthur say that. I knew that he was upset about my magic. But could it really be so bad that it actually made him stop loving me? "I can't love somebody…like that."

"Like what? Somebody who is completely loyal to you? Somebody who loves you with all of her heart? Somebody who would do anything for you? Why is it such a big deal that she has magic, Arthur, really?"

"It's…creepy! And wrong. I hate her for lying to me about it."

"Well, with how you've reacted, can you really blame her? Arthur, you…"

I hurried away down the hall, not wanting to hear even _more_ about how much Arthur hated me.

I started running. I wasn't going to suffer through anymore classes. Not today.

"Merlin!" I heard Gwen call after me. I just ran faster.

* * *

><p>I sat on the couch, curled in a ball. My stuffed Chewbacca was held tightly in my hands.<p>

The front door opened, and then I heard my dad's heavy footsteps. I didn't even look up. I figured he'd be home early today. He probably wasn't too happy with me skipping school.

"Hey, Dad. Is Mom home early, too?" I asked.

"Yes. She's coming in with some groceries. You missed your last three classes. Did it have something to do with your break-up on Friday?" he asked, just as Mom came in.

She looked at me in concern. I just shrugged. As much as I knew she wanted to, there really wasn't anything that she could do to help me through this. Not that I could think of, anyway. She continued into the kitchen. "I don't really want to talk about it," I murmured.

Dad pulled me into a tight hug, stroking my hair. "He'll realize someday that he's missing out on something wonderful. He's made a huge mistake, letting you go."

That really didn't help much. My dad was trying. But…it still hurt. Whether or not Arthur ever thought it was a mistake, we had still broken up. "He hates me now," I said. "I knew I shouldn't have told him about my magic. Now I've ruined everything."

"Oh, sweetheart. I know you don't want to hear this, but perhaps it was for the best. You want to be with someone who accepts you for who you are. But never forget that your mother and I will always be here for you."

A knock sounded at the door.

Mom hurried from the kitchen to answer it. I glanced back to see who it was.

Arthur.

I sank down in the couch. From where he was, he wouldn't be able to see me, hopefully. I could barely see him.

"Is Merlin here?" he asked.

Mom sighed. "I'm not sure that you being here is the best idea right now, Arthur. She's really upset."

"I know. And she probably hates me right now. She has every right to. I just…I want to apologize. I _need_ apologize. I don't expect her to forgive me. I just…Please, Mrs. Emrys. Let me talk to her." He sounded so desperate.

"Arthur -"

I sat up. "Mom, I'll talk to him."

She studied my face, and then nodded. "Let's leave them alone to talk, Balinor," she said to my dad.

"Hunith -"

"Darling, they need to work this out for themselves. Come on in, Arthur."

Mom and Dad left as Arthur came in. He sat awkwardly beside me. We just looked at each other for a while, neither one of us talking.

Finally, I couldn't take the silence anymore. I sighed. "Arthur, my magic is a huge part of who I am. I can't change it or bury it. And frankly, I don't want to."

"I don't want you to change. Ever. Merlin, I _do_ love you. All of you."

I narrowed my eyes. "Do you really mean that?"

Arthur took my hands in his. "Yes. What you did, telling me about your magic, took so much courage and trust. I am honored that you loved me enough, trusted me enough, to reveal that secret to me. Thank you. I _do_ love you, Merlin. I'm sorry I forgot that, even for a day. I was so horrible to you. I was completely out of line. I'm sorry."

"But you don't trust magic," I said. I had seen his face when I'd told him about it. "It scares you." I gently pulled my hands away. He may have loved me, but _we_ wouldn't work if he was scared of me. That was no kind of a relationship.

Surprising me, Arthur took my hands back. He placed a kiss to the back of each one. "Yes. It does freak me out a little. It's a…strange concept. You know my dad. I've never really thought that magic could be real. But it _is_ a part of you. And I want you to always be _you_. So, that means that I don't want you to be ashamed of your magic. Not with me. I'll always love you, magic and all. It'll just take me a little time to really get used to your magic."

I grinned softly. "So does that mean that we're back together?"

"Yes. Well, if you want to get back together. I'd understand if you didn't want anything to do with me."

I rolled my eyes. "Cabbage head," I muttered, as I threw my arms around his neck. I kissed him fiercely.


	18. Chapter Eighteen: True Love

I got into the passenger seat of Gwen's car. We were going to the last fencing match of the year to support our boyfriends. Arthur and Lance were both some of the top competitors.

"I've never heard of a high school with a _fencing_ team before I came to Avalon," I said, as she began driving. And at Avalon, fencing was the big thing. Nobody cared about football here. They only cared about fencing.

She shrugged. "It's actually pretty common around here. The schools in this area are a little…"

"Medieval?" I supplied.

"Old-fashioned," she corrected. "There was a time when fencing was part of the schedule in every school. Or almost every school. Besides that, the founder of Avalon was a _huge_ medieval buff. I mean, our mascot is a _knight_. Shining armor and all."

"But fencing is so…stupid and boring."

"Don't say that in France. It's practically a sacred sport there."

I gave her a funny look. "And when do you think I'll ever get a chance to go to France? Besides, if I ever _do_ get a chance to travel to another country, it certainly won't be France. I'd go to the UK, home of the BBC and my favorite hot guys. Benedict Cumberbatch, David Tennant, Matt Smith, Liam Hemsworth, just to name a few. Although I think Liam Hemsworth is Australian. But I'm not sure."

Gwen shook her head, grinning. "You know, if you end up marrying Arthur, you could probably go to the UK for your honeymoon. You could go wherever you wanted to go."

I glared at her. I was so not ready to talk about marriage to Arthur. I was seventeen, for heaven's sake. "Whoa, slow down there. Nobody said anything about marriage. I'm still in high school. For another two weeks, anyway. Let's not jump the gun."

She rolled her eyes, smiling. "Oh, please. We all know it's going to happen. Sometimes, you just see a couple, and you _know_. When I look at you and Arthur, I _know_. You two will definitely get married. We all know it. Morgana, Lance, me."

"What about you and Lance?" I countered. I was teasing, of course. I just didn't want to talk about Arthur and marriage. "Are you two thinking about tying the knot?"

"Yes," she answered, without hesitation. "We've talked about it. We'll probably get married shortly after I graduate."

I was surprised. I honestly hadn't expected that answer. "Wait, seriously? You've _actually_ talked about it together?"

She nodded. "I mean, he hasn't officially proposed or anything, not yet. But we know that we do want to get married, and soon."

"That's crazy."

Gwen shrugged. "It is. But we're really in love. It's not the puppy love that I think a lot of high school sweethearts have. I think it's the real deal. Which, I know, is what almost all high schoolers say. But I'd do anything for Lance. And I think he'd do anything for me."

I thought about that. Was what Arthur and I had the real deal? I felt like I would do anything for him. I would die for him, a thousand times over. I loved him, I really did. But I had never really been in a true relationship before Arthur. And I had a tendency to get very…passionate about things. My mother would say obsessed.

I had no way of knowing what true love was supposed to feel like. Was it supposed to be as intense as what I felt? Or was it supposed to be more subtle?

Gwen parked the car in the school parking lot. I was still thinking about true love and relationships when we walked into the school's fencing hall - yes, the school _actually_ had a fencing hall. The thing was huge.

It was interesting, now that I thought about it, the fact that I was here at all. I hated fencing. I hated watching it, listening about it, everything. Yet, when Arthur had invited me, I hadn't even hesitated to say yes. I wanted to support him, even if I thought what he liked to do was stupid.

Because I love him.

It was as simple as that, really. I love him. To me, it _was_ the real deal.

I just wasn't sure if Arthur felt as strongly as I did.

Sure, he'd said that he loved me, and I believed him. But for how long? Was it a love that would end almost as soon as we left school? Or was it a love that could last the rest of our lives?

I hoped so.

After all, I'd told him about my magic. He'd accepted me for who I am. We were still together. Sure, we called each other names all the time, and we argued a lot, but we always made up. Eventually. We worked pretty well together.

Gwen and I found seats in the front row. We were a little late, so Arthur was already in the center, warming up. He was in the very first match of the night.

I caught his eye.

Arthur grinned and blew me a kiss. He _actually_ blew a kiss.

In front of everyone.

Which, of course, got him catcalls and whistles from his teammates. Instead of trying to brush it off or play it cool - like I'd expected - he actually walked toward me.

He grinned, and then kissed me on the lips.

That convinced me more than anything else that Arthur's love was the real deal. The fact that he kissed me in front of all of his friends.


	19. Chapter Nineteen: How Serious

I looked up as Miss Mercia left the classroom. We were supposed to be working on a worksheet about the Egyptian gods alone, but that was boring. I had an important to ask my boyfriend, and now was as good a time as any.

"How long do you think she'll be gone?" I asked Arthur.

He looked at the recently closed door. A small smirk appeared on his face. "If she's talking to Mister Cenred, probably the rest of the period."

I grinned. "There's definitely something going on there."

"Oh, definitely. It's the worst-kept secret in the whole school. Everybody knows that they're secretly dating."

"Well, in that case, I have a question for you. When do I get to meet your parents?" In all the times that I'd been at his house, I'd never met either of his parents. Not even at his fencing match. It hadn't really surprised me that his dad hadn't been there, but it was a little surprising that his mom had missed the last match of the year. From what I'd heard, his mom was amazing. His dad, not so much.

Arthur dropped his pencil, his eyes wide. "Uh…what?" he stuttered, picking his pencil back up.

I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Barely. "Oh, you heard me just fine. You've gotten to hang around my parents loads of times. When do I get to meet _your_ parents?" Not that I was really looking forward to meeting his parents - his dad, anyway - but I felt it was important, if were as serious as I thought we were.

He cleared his throat. "My dad's at the office most of the time. He comes home super late pretty much every night."

I narrowed my eyes. "And? What are you not saying?"

He sighed, twirling his pencil. "He's very…judgmental. I've told you how he is about anything that can't be explained by science. Or doesn't fit the status quo. He's like that about everything that's out of what he considers the norm. And he has a very elitist attitude."

I couldn't help but snort. "That's nothing new to me. I'm dating _you_, remember?"

"Trust me, however bad you think I am, my dad is about ten times worse. He's a jerk."

"And I'm guessing I don't fit into this perfect mold of his?"

Arthur winced. "Probably not." From the look on his face, it was probably more of a definite _no_. I most certainly did not fit into his father's perfect mold.

But, in all reality, that didn't really surprise me, based off everything I'd heard about Uther Pendragon. "I'll compromise with you, then. Let me meet your mom. Please?" I jutted out my lower lip in a pout, just for good measure.

Arthur grinned. "That should be great. I'll talk to her and see when she wants to do it."

"Thank you, Arthur. I really do appreciate it."

He just shrugged. "My mom will love you. She pretty much already does."

I arched an eyebrow at that comment. "Are you saying that you've talked about me at home? To your _parents_?"

"Just my mom, who happens to be the Spanish Inquisition when it comes to girls," he said, a little defensively.

"So you haven't said _anything_ to your dad? Does he even know you have a girlfriend?"

Arthur looked offended. "Yes," he practically hissed. "I think I told him, anyway. But he doesn't care. He's probably forgotten all about it. He'd probably care more if he knows just how serious I am about you."

I looked down at my desk, almost afraid to ask my next question. "How serious are you? I mean, I know that you love me. I'm not questioning that. I just…I wonder where we're going with our relationship."

"Merlin, you know that I've never really been serious about anybody." He lowered his voice, looking around to make sure that nobody was listening to our conversation. They weren't. They were too busy having their own conversations. "I've never…thought about getting married. But I've thought about it recently. With you. I can easily picture us getting married and being happy together."

I hid my smile at his words. "Would your dad let you, though? I mean, I'm not exactly normal. I don't think he'd let you marry somebody like me."

"I don't care what he thinks. Well, I do care what he thinks. About some things. But not about who I'll eventually marry. I want to marry someone who makes me happy. Someone who makes me a better _me_. That's what you do for me."

I blinked quickly, trying hard not to cry. Deep down, Arthur was a sentimental guy. Even if he tried to hide it. I couldn't keep a few tears from escaping.

Arthur looked panicked. "But I'm not proposing!" he said quickly. "Not anytime soon! Don't get any ideas into your head!"

I rolled my eyes. I couldn't believe how much of an _idiot_ he could be. "Dollophead."


	20. Chapter Twenty: Graduation Night

I pulled on my graduation gown. I didn't bother zipping it up. Not yet. It was uncomfortable enough as it was. I grabbed my wallet and my cap, and turned to leave. I was already a few minutes late.

Mom stood in the doorway. I could see tear tracks on her face. I groaned. "Don't tell me you were crying, Mom."

"Well, what do you expect? You're graduating high school a whole year early. My baby is growing up - and much sooner than I'd ever expected. I want to keep you little forever, even though I know that's not possible."

I gave her a tight hug. "Ah, Mom. I'll still be living with you. I don't turn eighteen until February, so you've got plenty of time. You'll end up getting sick and tired of me being around."

"But college! You'll be in _college_ this fall, Merlin. I just…it's a hard thing for a mother to accept."

It wasn't the first time my mom and I had talked about this, so I understood how she felt. "But I'll be here. And even when I eventually move out, I'll be close. Avalon University is just four blocks away from our house. And the dorms and nearby apartments are even closer. I won't ever be far from you."

Mom hugged me again, kissing the top my head. "You'd better get going. I love you. Your father and I will be there shortly. We're picking up Gaius on the way."

I nodded at left the house. It only took me a few minutes to drive to the school, where Arthur was waiting outside.

"Ready?" he asked, as I walked toward the doors.

"To be officially done with high school? Of course I am. I'm more than ready."

He chuckled, taking my hand as we walked inside.

Lance was already in line. Arthur and I took our spots behind him. "This is stupid," Arthur grumbled. "Like we really need to practice _four_ times."

"At least they let us stand where we want, instead of putting us in alphabetical order," Lance pointed out.

"Still. It's stupid."

I agreed, but there really wasn't anything we could do about it. So we suffered through one more practice.

And then we suffered through the actual ceremony which was hot, and long, and obnoxious. The speaker, a favorite teacher from the high school, just could not shut up. Apparently, everybody in the school who'd had him thought he was this amazing teacher. I'd never had him. So far, I wasn't very impressed. He just droned on and on and on.

And on.

Finally, the principal began calling names and handing out diplomas. Arthur, Lance, and I were nearly last as we were standing towards the back. Our names were some of the last to be read.

After the ceremony was over, I pulled Arthur toward my family. He hadn't really gotten a chance to _officially_ meet my uncle Gaius. He'd seen him at the hospital, of course.

I hugged my parents, then Gaius. "Uncle Gaius, I want you to meet my boyfriend, Arthur Pendragon."

Smiling, Gaius shook hands with Arthur. "It's very nice to meet you. I've heard so much about you."

"All good thinks, I hope," Arthur said.

"Well, mostly good."

I smiled sheepishly when Arthur looked at me. He shook his head slightly. "You ready to meet my dad?"

I scrunched up my nose. While I had been the one to insist on this meeting, I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. "I guess. He's probably going to dislike me." I looked down at myself. I had taken off my graduation gown as soon as I possibly could. I was wearing a Nintendo controller dress, with wedge sneakers and a necklace made out of Scrabble pieces that said Nerd. My hair was in a long braid. I looked like a nerd. "The dress is a little much, isn't it?"

"Maybe. But since I'm moving out in two weeks, I don't really care what he thinks. I love you, Merlin. And he'll just have to accept that."

I heard my mom coo. That was my cue to hurry Arthur away before she could start crying or something equally embarrassing.

Uther, Ygraine, and Morgana were standing by the main doors, talking. Ygraine was the first one to see me, and she smiled when she did. "Oh, Merlin. It's so good to see you again. Congratulations. You're now a high school graduate."

I grinned. "Thank you, Mrs. Pendragon."

She tsked. "Call me Ygraine. I know I told you that the last time you came over."

Arthur's father frowned. "Who is this?"

Arthur placed one arm around my shoulders. "Dad, this is my girlfriend, Merlin Emrys."

"You don't have a girlfriend."

Arthur sighed. "Yes, I do. She's right here. I know I told you about her. At least twice."

Uther looked me up and down. Then he sniffed, as if he was disgusted by what he saw. "Huh. Well, we're having a family dinner at your uncle Agravaine's tonight. _Just_ family and close friends." From his tone and the look of distaste he shot me, it was clear that I was _not_ invited.

Arthur clasped my hand in his own. "I've already made plans for tonight, Dad. With Merlin," he said, even though he hadn't. We hadn't made any plans together at all. "I told you about them the other day."

Uther narrowed his eyes. "I don't remember that. What sort of plans?"

"Movie night. We're having a _Lord of the Rings_ marathon."

My jaw very nearly dropped. I had been trying to get him to do that marathon for three weeks! I'd already gotten him hooked on _Doctor Who_. Because of that, he was reluctant to let me drag him into any more shows or movies that he might get hooked on.

Uther looked a little upset, to be honest. "_Lord of the Rings_?"

Ygraine put her hand on his arm. "They're very good movies, dear. And he did tell you about his plans." _That_ right there was why I loved Arthur's mom so much. She totally just lied for us. "Come along. Agravaine will understand that Arthur wants to spend some time with his girlfriend. Have a good time, you two." And with that, she pulled Uther outside.

Morgana, giggling, waved at us before following her parents.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One: A Serious Question

Arthur and I laid in the grass, side by side. "I can't believe I'm moving out next Monday," he said. "Six days from now."

"And then," I added, "in a couple of months, we'll both be college freshmen." I was still getting used to the fact that I was a high school graduate now. And Morgana and Gwen still had another year, ha.

"Back to the bottom of the food chain."

That was for sure. Being a freshman sucked, whether it was high school or college. There was just nothing good about it either way. "Yeah. Hey, have you decided what to major in yet?"

He sighed, shrugging. "No, not really. But I'm going to have to make up my mind pretty soon, so I don't end up wasting a lot of time taking classes I don't need. My father wants me to take over Camelot Corporation when he retires. But, I'm not sure if that's what I actually want to do. I've helped out, and I've enjoyed it."

"But?" I prompted. I knew there was more.

"But I don't like the way he does a lot of things. And, sure, I'd be able to change them if I become CEO. But it might be a while before I can actually do that."

It was pretty easy for me to read between the lines and figure out what he was _really_ saying. I found Arthur pretty easy to read, now that I'd spent so much time with him. "And you might not be able to handle it until you can take over."

He nodded. "Right. I know it would frustrating for the time that I wouldn't be able to do anything about the policies that I don't agree with. At the same time, I know that I'll have a stable career if I choose to go that route. I'd be able to provide for y…For my future family."

I grinned to myself. He'd changed his word pretty quick, but it was obvious he'd been about to talk about providing for me. I decided not to call him out on it. He'd just deny it."Arthur, you need to do whatever is going to make _you_ happy, not what's the most stable. I think that loving your job is just as important - if not more so - as making good money. Trust me, Arthur. My family has never had a lot of money. But my parents both love their jobs. It makes all the difference. We've never been able to afford the fancy stuff, but we get by. We're able to afford what we need, and a little extra sometimes."

He grinned down at me. "And yet you've been able to buy a bunch of nerdy stuff. Not to mention all those books. It can't be cheap."

"It's not, but I do get a small allowance that I'm pretty good about saving. And I usually get a summer job or two. I pay for nerdiness. I don't ever expect my parents to pay for it. Although, they usually get me gift cards for book stores for my birthday. I'm also really good about finding amazing deals."

His grin just widened. Then he sobered up a bit. "Um, I…have a question for you," he said, and he actually sounded nervous.

I narrowed my eyes. It made me suspicious when he got nervous. Very suspicious. Very, _very_ suspicious."Is Arthur Pendragon _actually_ nervous about something?"

"Maybe. Hey, don't make fun of me. It's a very serious question." He was all defensive about it.

"Okaaay," I said slowly. "What is it?"

"You don't have to decide right away. I want you to think about it. I don't want you to feel pressured at all."

"About what?"

"You seriously don't have to. I'm not going to try to convince you or anything. I just want to ask you about it."

He couldn't even seem to get a proper explanation out. Now I was _really_ worried. "Just spit it out, Arthur."

He fiddled with my fingers, not looking at me. He took a deep breath and started again. "I…I want you to move in with me. After you turn eighteen, of course."

I was surprised. Very surprised. We hadn't…talked about that next step yet. I wasn't sure I was ready for that yet. "Aren't you sharing an apartment with Lance?"

"Yeah, but he'll be getting married and moving out in September, after Gwen graduates. In about sixteen months."

I couldn't help but grin. "Are you already counting down the days until your best friend moves out, before you even move in together? That's just sad."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "No, but Lance hasn't shut up about it since he proposed and they decided on a date. I could probably tell you how much time is left until the wedding, down to the minute. Well, the hour."

I wondered how often Lance mentioned the wedding. I guess I couldn't really blame Lance for being so excited, though. Gwen hadn't really been able to shut up about it, either. "But I turn eighteen in February. That's only nine months from now, not sixteen. And your apartment only has two bedrooms."

"Well, and an office."

"Okay, but it's still only got two bedrooms. Which means I would probably be sharing a room with you for about seven months."

"Well…yes."

"We haven't…Arthur, we haven't even _talked_ about that next step yet."

"I know. Obviously, we need to have that talk before any decisions are really made. I don't want you to decide just yet. I just wanted to ask you. I don't want you to feel like you _have_ to."

I just smiled a little. We hadn't talked about that next step yet, but I knew that I wanted to be with Arthur forever. I didn't ever want to sleep with anyone else. It wasn't a matter of not wanting to be with him...in that way. It was a matter of _when_ I wanted to be with him in that way. "I'll consider it," I promised, and I was going to. My mom would kill me if I decided to, but if I was eighteen, I could do what I wanted. "But no guarantees."

"That's all I'm asking."


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two: Decision

I helped Arthur carry the last few boxes of his stuff into his new - fancy - apartment. I was both nervous and excited to tell Arthur about my recent decision. Of course, we'd had that _talk_, and I felt pretty good about _us_ and about my decision. It didn't completely get rid of my nerves - they would probably be there until the day I moved in - but it helped. At least I knew what we both wanted, and what we were both comfortable with.

I had to admit that I was impressed with his place. It was the first time I'd had a chance to see it, actually. It was only two bedrooms, but it was big. And it even had its own office, as well as a laundry room _and_ three bathrooms. Yes, three.

"This a super nice place. How expensive is it?" That was the only dent in my little plan. There was no way I could afford this place on what I was making now, and I didn't really want my boyfriend to pay my rent for me.

"It's not too bad, actually. About nine-hundred a month, total. Between me and Lance, it will be about four-fifty each. But my dad's pretty happy about me deciding to take over the company, so he's offered to pay my rent and all my insurance." I nearly whistled. That was pretty impressive. I didn't really like the idea of Uther paying for my living space, but I certainly didn't feel bad about it. "And I start working at Camelot Corporation next week."

I had to giggle. He'd already told me about his new job. "Yeah, as a paper boy." I just couldn't stop making fun of him for it.

"Hey, you gotta start at the bottom sometimes. It'll be boring, but the pay's pretty good."

"What made you decide to take over the company?" I asked. We had talked about our plans a little more, and he'd told me that he was planning to do what his father wanted, but he hadn't mentioned why. I was really hoping that it wasn't just the money. I didn't want him to get himself into a career that he ended up hating.

"I do enjoy the work. And I think that I could make some good changes to the company."

I smiled at him. "I could have told you that, clotpole."

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

We fell silent as we finished bringing in boxes. Then we sat on the couch, one of the few pieces of furniture actually in the apartment. Neither Lance nor Arthur had done much decorating yet.

"So, what'd you think of my bedroom?" Arthur asked, waggling his eyebrows.

I elbowed him, grinning. "Don't try to be sexy. It doesn't work for you." He was usually pretty sexy without even trying. but when he tried to be sexy, it failed. Big time. "But I think that we should paint the bedroom teal."

He frowned. "Teal? Why?"

"Well, that's my favorite color, of course. Well, my favorite non-nerdy color. I won't push my nerdiness on our bedroom. I'll find other ways to be nerdy. More subtle ways."

Arthur's pretty blue eyes widened. His mouth fell open just slightly. "_Our_ bedroom? Does that mean…?"

I smiled warmly at him. "Yes, clotpole. I'll move with you, the first week of March."

He smiled in return. "In that case, I want to show you something. Come on." He got to his feet.

Confused, I stood up and followed him. He led me to the office. "This is yours," he said. "I already talked to Lance about it, in the event that you did choose to move in, and he was fine with it. You can do whatever you want to this room. It can be your nerd room, if you want. Whatever. It's _your_ space, and only your space. We won't touch it. Even now. You can paint it tomorrow if you want, and whenever you come over, you can use it."

I threw my arms around his neck. "That would be so awesome. Thank you. You're really okay with me having a nerd room?"

"I'm really okay with you having a nerd room."

"Awesome."

"Speaking of nerd stuff. I have a question for you. Your sense of style, it's…"

"Nerdy," I supplied for him.

He sighed. "That's not what I was going to say, though it is true. It's…eclectic. Trendy, but eclectic. One day you'll be wearing something that looks totally badass, and the next day you look like a schoolgirl. Are all of your outfits inspired by books?"

I was a little surprised that he'd actually figured that one out. Then again, he was related to Morgana. She had an eye for fashion. I was sure that some of that knowledge had rubbed off on Arthur - whether he liked it or not. He knew his fashion. For the most part, anyway. "Or movies. Or some video games. Well, not _all_ of my outfits. Probably not even half of them. But I'd say about forty-six percent."

"And today?" he asked, gesturing at my outfit. "What's with the orange Camp Half-Blood tee and the Yankees cap? And owl earrings?"

"It's Annabeth Chase's outfit, from the Percy Jackson series."

He just shook his head, chuckling. "You're weird."

I was so going to get him to read that series.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello, hello! Here's another couple of chapters. It's going to really start slowing down soon. I've reached the end of what I'd had already written. My ideas aren't happening quite as quickly as I'd hoped they would. :( Sorry about that. I really hope that you guys are enjoying this. As always, I love to read your reviews. Just be nice. I accept constructive criticism, but not nasty criticism. I just don't see any reason for it. Oh, and I know that Merlin is super nerdy in this fanfic. For some reason, when I picture Merlin as a girl in modern days, I also picture her as a huge nerd. I don't know why. Obviously, it's OOC. But it's great fun. It's meant to be very lighthearted and enjoyable. I hope that I'm not overdoing it. <strong>


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three:Favorite Book-Again

I snuggled against Arthur's side, trying to ignore the TV screen. I was bored out of my mind. If I'd known what movie he was watching, I wouldn't have come over to watch it with him. I hated _Remember the Titans_.

"I have a question for you," I said, when I just couldn't take any more of the stupid movie.

"Shh," Arthur said, not looking away from the screen. "This is one of the best parts."

I scowled. "There are no good parts in this movie. It's a stupid movie."

Arthur paused it and turned to stare at me. It was probably closer to a glare, actually. "You did not just say that."

"I certainly did. I hate this movie. I've seen it about a million times. I swear, every time we had a free day or when we were state testing and couldn't really have normal class, the teachers would play this damn movie." It was ridiculous. I'd go to English, and my teacher would put in _Remember the Titans_. Then I'd go into math, and we'd watch _Remember the Titans_. "I can't stand it anymore. It was good the first time, and that's it. Anyway, I want to know what your favorite book is. We've been on way more than six dates, and I think it's time you told me your favorite book."

"What do you mean? I've already told you my favorite book."

I gave him a look. I knew he'd been lying when he'd finally told me what his favorite book was, but I'd let it slide. I hadn't called him out on his lie at the time. "Okay, seriously? You actually expect me to believe that your favorite book is _The Woman in Black_? It's seriously creepy, _and_ you had to read it for class. There's no way it's your favorite. I know you better than that."

"That's really it. Promise."

"No, it's not. It can't be."

"I don't know why you don't believe me."

I snorted. "Yeah, right. Tell me the truth."

"I did."

I thought about continuing to argue with him. But then I had an idea. I'd get him to talk. I smirked at my boyfriend. "Is that your final answer?"

"Yes, it's my final answer."

I was amazed. He didn't even sound worried. He really should have known better than to trust my smirk. "Okay, if you're sure." I concentrated on my magic. A moment later, Arthur sprouted a pair of donkey ears. I giggled. "If you're going to act like an ass, you may as well look like one, too."

Arthur frowned. He had no idea. _No_ idea. He opened his mouth to say something…and brayed like a donkey. He kept trying, and kept braying.

I could hardly breathe, I was laughing so hard.

Arthur clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Are you ready…to tell me what your…favorite…book is?" I asked between giggles. This was just too great. "Honestly this time?"

He nodded.

I cupped my hand behind my ear, frowning. Well, I was trying to frown. I wasn't really succeeding. It was hilarious. "I'm sorry. What was that? I couldn't really hear you."

Arthur glared at me. I was pretty sure he was plotting a very painful death for me.

That'll teach him to lie to me.

He brayed again.

Chuckling, I released the spell on his voice. I left the ears, though. Hey, I had to make sure he was going to tell the truth. I reached up to lightly touch one of the furry ears. "So cute."

My boyfriend jerked away from me. He touched his own ears, his eyes wide and panicked. "Get rid of them!"

"Not until you tell me."

"Fine! My favorite book is _The Fault in Our Stars_! Okay? Now get rid of the ears!"

I did. "Really?" I asked, surprised. I hadn't read that book yet. It wasn't often that Arthur had read a book that I hadn't. "Why were you so hesitant about telling me? I've heard that's a really good book."

"Wait a minute. Are you saying you haven't actually _read_ it?"

"Not yet. I've been meaning to. I just haven't really had a chance yet."

"Oh my gosh. You have to read it." Arthur stood and hurried into his room. _Remember the Titans_ was already forgotten, which was more than a little ironic, really. He came back out with a book in his hands. A book that had obviously been read more than once. Probably by Lance or something. Arthur never rereads books. "You have to read it."

Wow. Arthur never got this excited about books, either. "Okay, okay. Jeez. Calm down."

"You'll love it. Absolutely love it."

I grinned. "I'm sure I will. I'll start reading it tonight. And then tomorrow, I'm going to paint the office. I got the paint today. It took me a while to find the right shade."

"What color?"

I shook my head. "I can't tell you that. It's going to be a surprise."

"Ah, come on. I'm curious. I know it's going to be nerdy."

"I don't care how curious you are. And you just _think_ you know it's going to be nerdy. It might not be nerdy." Of course, it _was_ going to be nerdy. But I was going to be a little more subtle than I'd been with my bedroom.

Arthur laughed. "_Not_ nerdy? I'll believe it when I see it."

I just shrugged. "Do you know if it would be all right if my dad put built-in shelves in there? I know a lot of apartment buildings don't let you do renovations like that."

"I don't think it would be allowed, but I'll ask the landlord."

"Thanks."

* * *

><p><strong>I had to put the donkey ears in here somewhere. That was just so funny in the show. I loved it. So I worked it in. I think it fit pretty well here.<strong>

**The whole part with the _Remember the Titans_ was actually something that my high school did. Whenever we had our ISAT tests, it took a whole week. And most of the classes didn't teach any new content, so we called it Dead Week. And almost all of the teachers would play a movie. _Remember the Titans_ was a favorite. I can't stand the movie now. It was good the first couple of times I saw it. But when you watch a movie almost every day, in two or more classes, for an entire week, you come to hate it. So, sorry if there are any _Remember the Titans _fans out there. **

**Oh, and I want to give you a fair warning for the next chapter. If you have not read _The Fault in Our Stars,_ then DO NOT READ the next chapter. There are MAJOR SPOILERS in the next chapter. You read it at your own risk. There's really nothing important that happens in the next chapter. Well, kind of. If you haven't read _The Fault in Our Stars,_ and you want to know what happens in the next chapter but you don't want to read the spoilers, I'll put a small summary at the bottom. Just scroll down to the very bottom.**


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four: Stupid Book

**WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! If you have NOT read _The Fault in Our Stars_, skip to the bottom of this page. There are major spoilers for TFIOS. Major. **

* * *

><p>I walked down the stairs, rubbing my eyes. I yawned widely, heading toward the kitchen. Mom was standing at the stove, making an omelet. She looked up at me, then she sighed heavily.<p>

"Uh-oh. I know that look. How late did you stay up last night to read a book?" Obviously, this wasn't the first time I'd stayed up extremely late to finish reading a book. I was kind of infamous for that.

"Four in the morning," I admitted. "I just couldn't put it down, though I tried. I'm going to kill Arthur. Once I've loaded myself with caffeine, that is. I won't make it through the day without a bunch of caffeine."

Mom frowned. "Why in the world would you do that?"

I scowled. "He told me to read this stupid book," I said, holding up the book I'd finished reading that very morning. "But he _didn't_ tell me that I would bawl my eyes out like a big baby." Seriously. I'd cried. I'd cried so hard for the last few chapters of the stupid book.

"So you didn't like it?"

"Are you kidding me? I _loved_ it," I gushed. "It was just about the most amazing book I've ever read."

She shook her head. "I don't understand you."

I grinned, pulling a wrapped muffin out of the pantry. I would have to pick up a coffee on my way to Arthur's this morning. "You don't have to understand me. You just have to love me."

Mom smiled and kissed the top of my head. "Well, I've always done that."

"I know. Well, I'm off. I'll see you later tonight."

She frowned. "Where are you going? No offense, sweetie, but you look like you just rolled out of bed."

I looked down at myself. I was wearing a pair of baggy sweatpants and a ratty _Star Wars_ tee-shirt. I'd just pulled my hair up into a messy ponytail. "I changed my clothes and brushed my hair and teeth. I didn't shower because I didn't see the point. I'm just going to get sweaty and gross again. And paint-splattered. I'm painting the office in Arthur's apartment," I explained.

"Well, that's nice of you to help him paint."

I shook my head. "Oh, no. I'm not _helping_ him. I'm doing it all. Arthur's not allowed in that room, not even to help with the painting. That's _my_ space. He's letting me do whatever I want in that room. It's mine." Too late, I realized what I'd just said. I winced, hoping my mom wouldn't notice.

"What do you mean, _your_ space?" Mom demanded. I quickly unwrapped my muffin and rushed toward the door. I grabbed my keys as my mom said, "Merlin Ava Emrys! You had better not be thinking about moving in with that boy!"

Yeah, I was not ready for that conversation yet.

* * *

><p>I opened Arthur's front door, sipping my latte. "Hey!" I called out.<p>

"Hey," Arthur and Lance answered together. They were sitting on the couch, watching TV. I sat next to my boyfriend, kissed his lips softly, and then I punched his arm.

Arthur rubbed his arm, scowling at me. "Ow. What was that for?"

"I can't believe he _died_. Seriously."

Arthur grinned. "You finished it already? I loaned it to you just yesterday."

"Of course I finished it already. I couldn't put the stupid thing down. I thought for _sure_ that Hazel would die, and that the book would end in the middle of a sentence, just like that stupid book in the book ended. But no, Gus had to freaking die. Why? I love Gus. I wanted to marry Gus."

"Excuse me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, don't get jealous over a fictional character. Even if he is way better than you could ever be."

"Whatever. It was amazing, though, right?"

"Of course it was amazing. I ordered my own copy the second I finished reading it. It's one of the best books I've ever read."

"Told you."

"No wonder you lied to me about your favorite book. You cried like a little girl, didn't you? When you read the book?"

He scoffed. "No," he said adamantly. "I totally didn't."

Lance snorted. "Yeah, right. I was there when he finished reading it - the first time. He totally cried like a little girl."

Arthur glared at his best friend. "Where's the loyalty, man?"

I arched an eyebrow at my boyfriend. Of course, I'd noticed that the book had been read a few times, but I hadn't guessed that Arthur had been the one to read it more than once. I thought that Lance might have read his copy, too. "You've read it more than once?" Arthur _never_ read a book more than once.

"Yeah," he admitted sheepishly. "About four times so far."

I whistled. "Wow. That's impressive. Anyway, I didn't come over just to talk about the book. I'm going to start painting."

"I'll help you."

I grinned, shaking my head. "Nice try. No. If you come near that room, you'll get a nasty surprise."

Arthur narrowed his eyes at me. "Magic?" he guessed.

"Of course."

He sighed, lightly touching his ears. He shuddered.

I stood up. "Oh, by the way, my mom is pretty ticked right now. She found out that I'm planning on moving in with you at some point."

Arthur winced. My mom didn't get mad very often, but when she did...She was kind of scary. I knew that Arthur hadn't really been looking forward to her reaction when she finally found out about my plans to move in with my boyfriend after I turn eighteen.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so if you skipped to the bottom, there's not much that you missed in this chapter. BUT Merlin's mom did find out, sort of, that Merlin is planning to move in with Arthur. She's not happy about it. But Merlin didn't really give her a chance to talk about it. <strong>


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five: A Date-Sort Of

I stood back, admiring my handiwork. I was pretty dang proud of this room. The walls were painted Tardis blue, since Arthur was also a fan. I had subtle references to other shows and books throughout the office, but nothing was too obvious. There was a painted yellow smiley face on the back of the office door. It wasn't large, but it was there. I had a small model of an Impala on the shelf.

I set up two desk areas, so Arthur and I could work on homework together, along one wall. Every other wall had floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. I was so glad that Arthur's landlord had been okay with us building the shelves. He'd also been okay with us building the desks straight into the wall.

A knock sounded on the door-which I had magically protected to keep everybody but myself out. "Merlin? You in there?"

"Yeah. But I'm not letting you in. Not yet." Yeah, sure, I was done. But I knew the curiosity was killing him. He probably thought I was going to make it look like a scene from _The Hunger Games_ or _Doctor Who_ or _Sherlock_ or something. And I had been tempted, but then I'd decided to go subtle. But I'd let Arthur use his imagination for a little while longer. He'd been trying to sneak in for about two weeks.

"Well, then come out here. There's something I need to talk to you about."

Sighing, I left the office, being very careful not to let him see inside. "What do you want?"

He looked…nervous? No, it was more like he was irritated. "Well, I have some…kind of…maybe bad news."

I narrowed my eyes. "What?" I asked slowly.

"My mom has been trying really hard to get my dad to be a little more understanding. She wants…She wants to set up a sort of…date. You, me, her, and…my dad.

I couldn't help but scowl. "Your dad hates me."

"I don't think he _hates_ you," Arthur said, but he didn't sound too sure. "He just…doesn't really like you."

"Oh, yeah. Because that makes it so much better."

"I know. I'm sorry. But Mom says that she thinks he'll be reasonable."

I shook my head. I really didn't believe that Uther Pendragon was _capable_ of being reasonable.

"I know, I know," he said. I don't have as much confidence as Mom does. But will you go? Do you think you'd be okay with that?"

"Do I have to?"

"Of course you don't have to. But I would really like you to. Maybe it'll be okay."

I sighed. Maybe Uther _could_ be reasonable. For one night. "All right, fine. I'll go."

He leaned forward and kissed my cheek. "Thank you. If he gets too bad, we'll leave right away. Promise."

"I'm going to hold you to that. You do realize that, right?"

"I know. So, do I get to see the office yet?"

"No!"


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six: Unreasonable

**Sorry it has been so long since I've updated, and that these chapters are a little shorter than the others. I've been pretty busy. But I'm just about done with this story, just so you all know. I am planning a sequel, though.**

I held Arthur's hand tightly as we walked into the restaurant together. I looked around nervously. So far, I didn't see his parents. I was kind of hoping that I wouldn't see them, to be honest. Because if I couldn't see them, then there was a possibility that they weren't there at all, and if they weren't there at all, then I wouldn't have to go through with this.

"I really don't want to do this," I told him.

"I know. Thank you. It means a lot to me that you're willing to try."

"Yeah, sure." I _had_ agreed to it, though. Since I had agreed to it, I would go through with it. Even if every second of it seemed like a torture.

Finally, Arthur spotted his mom and dad. Reluctantly, I allowed him to lead to join them. Not that I had anything against Ygraine. I loved her. She was so awesome. She was one of the coolest adults I had ever met. It was Uther I didn't really like, mostly because he didn't really like me. "Dad, Mom," my boyfriend greeted.

Ygraine smiled. "Hey, sweetie. Merlin. It's great to see you again. How are you?"

"Good. I'm good. How are you, Ygraine? Mr. Pendragon?"

Uther was frowning. He grunted in response to my question. His wife gave him a stern look. "Uther, stop that. Merlin is a very nice young woman. Be civil."

"Hello…Merlin."

Ygraine sighed. "well, I'd hoped that this would go a bit smoother. Uther, honey, why don't you get to know Merlin a little?"

I sent Arthur a grimace. This was not going well. It was like pulling teeth, with his dad.

Arthur, his eyes flicking between me and Uther, cleared his throat. "Uh, Dad, did you know that Merlin is thinking about opening her own store someday? After she graduates college?"

I elbowed him sharply. I still wasn't sure if that was actually something that I wanted to do or not. It was a random idea.

Ygraine smiled. "Really? I didn't know that. What kind of store?"

I flushed. This was another reason I wasn't happy with Arthur for mentioning it. This was not going to help with his dad. "Uh…a book store slash café. Somewhere that people could go to study or read and also enjoy a nice coffee or something. I've always loved bookstores and stuff. I would love to be able to just sit there and do my studying and reading, with a cup of coffee in my hand."

Uther snorted. "She really is a nerd," he muttered to himself.

Ygraine looked irritated. I was irritated, but I had kind of expected it.

Arthur stood up. He looked pissed. _Really_ pissed. "This is ridiculous, Dad. You're being completely unreasonable. I wanted you to be able to get to know my girlfriend. But apparently you can't even handle a civil conversation with her. She hasn't done anything to you to deserve this kind of treatment. Whether you like it or not, I love Merlin. And we're going to be living together, so you may as well get used to seeing her. Come on, Merlin. Let's go."

I allowed Arthur to lead me out of the restaurant.


	27. Chapter Twenty-Seven: Marriage

I lounged in a chair beside the pool. Gwen, Lance, Leon, Morgana, Arthur, and I had decided to spend the day relaxing at the pool at Arthur's condo building. The pool was freaking _huge_.

The guys were goofing off in the deep end, throwing each other in and dunking each other and other stupid stuff.

I grinned at Gwen. "I still can't believe you're already engaged. You haven't even graduated high school yet. I was surprised that he had proposed so soon."

"I know," she said, shaking her head. "It's crazy, but we've still got more than a year before the actual wedding. It's _insane_, but I'm so excited. And, of course, you and Morgana will be bridesmaids."

I grinned wider. I couldn't help but tease her. "That sounds like a command. Not a question. What if I don't want to be your bridesmaid? I'm not the bridesmaid type."

"Well, duh it's a command and not a question. Why would you think anything else? I don't care what you want, you will be my bridesmaid."

"You sure are bossy," I said.

"I am. And you're going to be my bridesmaid. Right?"

I gave a heavy sigh, as if I was making a huge sacrifice. Really, I would enjoy being Gwen's bridesmaid. One of them, anyway. But I enjoyed teasing her. "I suppose I will."

"Morgana?"

"Of course. You really don't even have to ask. You know that."

"Yeah, and before I know it, you're going to be taking over the whole wedding."

I arched an eyebrow at Gwen. "You just hire her as your wedding planner now and get it over with. Since she's going to take over the plans anyway."

Morgana smirked. "So," she began, in a tone that said I was _not_ going to like whatever came out of her mouth. "When's your wedding, Merlin?"

"What?" I asked, my voice squeaky. I cleared my throat and spoke again. "What are you talking about?"

"Wait, you mean Arthur hasn't proposed to you yet?" Morgana teased. At least, I _hoped_ she was just teasing. I may have been totally in love with Arthur, but I was not ready to think about marriage yet."

"Of course he hasn't proposed yet. It's way too early for us. That's not going to happen anytime soon. Like, not for _years_."

Gwen and Morgana exchanged a look.

Then they laughed. "I'm serious! There is no way that Arthur would even think about proposing. We may love each other, but marriage is not something that either of us is ready for yet."

"It'll happen eventually," Morgana promised. "We all know it will."

I shrugged. "Maybe. Who knows? We could break up next week."

It was Morgana's turn to shrug. "Maybe. But you've been down that road before, and it didn't last very long. You'll get married. We all know it. Well, apparently, everybody except you and Arthur know it."

"Whatever."


	28. Chapter Twenty-Eight: First Day

I zipped my books into my backpack and left the classroom. I went outside, to the fountain in the middle of the courtyard. Arthur was going to meet me.

My phone began vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out and answered it. "Hey, babe," I said.

"Uh…don't ever say 'babe' again. It just sounds _wrong_ coming out of your mouth. How was your first day of college?"

I grinned. "Pretty good. How was yours?"

"Eh. All right. I'm heading to the courtyard now. My last class ended about half an hour ago, but I was in the library. I'll meet up with you in a few minutes."

"What, are you trying to hand up on me? Having a hard time walking and talking at the same time?"

"Oh, shut up. I was the one who called you, remember? I can walk and talk at the same time. I'm not going to hang up. I'll keep talking until I get to you."

"Whatever. You know what's crazy? There's this chick in one of my classes who was pregnant with her fifth baby when she was just seventeen. She's awesome, though. And she's pretty smart in math, which is _not_ my strong-suit. I'm amazed that she's going back to school. I'm sure it can't be easy to have four kids with one on the way, _and_ going to college."

"Wow. Five kids. I'm thinking that I don't ever want more than three kids," Arthur said. It was crazy how often we had similar thoughts and ideas. "That's probably about as much as I could handle."

"Same here. Even then, three might be pushing it for me. I'd be happy with just two. I could never handle five. Anyway, she's pretty cool. I feel like we're friends already, even though we've just met, and we're definitely gonna be study buddies. It'll help me, a lot."

"Awesome. How are your professors? Mine are pretty boring so far. One guy, George, is the single most boring person I've ever met. He insists that we can call him by his first name, and he makes jokes about brass. Seriously, _brass_."

"Wow. That's lame."

"Yeah. I don't think I'm going to like his class. At all. But the other professors are good."

"Good. Mine are all right. None of them are too boring. But none of them are too exciting, either."

"Well, it'll be an interesting term, anyway."

"Yep."

"Oh, hey. I see you now. I'm gonna hang up."

"Okay. I guess it just finally got too hard for you to walk and talk at the same time."

"Oh, shut up, Merlin. You're obnoxious."

I chuckled. "I know."

I could practically hear him rolling his eyes, and then the line went dead.

I saw Arthur walking toward me. I lifted my hand and waved.


	29. Chapter Twenty-Nine: Nervous

**So, this is the very last chapter of this story! I think I ended it on a good note. And, like I said earlier, I am going to do a sequel. I'll be putting it up pretty soon. Maybe even tonight.**

I carried the last box of my stuff into the apartment and set it down in Arthur's room. No. _Our_ room. It wasn't just Arthur's anymore. It belonged to both of us.

I was nervous, though. I'd never _really_ been alone with Arthur. Well, not like this. We'd been alone together, of course. But this was…different. This was the first night we were going to be _together_ together. I was going to lose my virginity tonight, and that made me nervous.

I looked around the room, playing with my hair. Lance was out with Gwen and probably wouldn't be back until extremely late. "So, um, I'm all moved in," I said. "What now?"

Arthur thought for a second. "We could start actually unpacking your stuff," he suggested. "We've got everything inside. Let's start unpacking it."

I scrunched up my nose. "Ugh. I don't want to do that tonight. I'll do that tomorrow. Let's do something else."

I saw Arthur's eyes flick toward the bed, and then he looked back at me. I thought for sure he was going to suggest we start making out or something. Then he said, "We could watch a movie, maybe?" Was it just me, or did Arthur Pendragon sound nervous?

I was actually a little disappointed. I was _ready_ to make that next step with him.

"I guess," I said.

We went into the living room and put in a movie. How many had we done this? Sat in this very living room and watched a movie together, alone? Why was this time so completely different?

I had no idea, but it made it difficult for me to focus on the movie. I was hyper-aware of the man sitting beside me.

After a while, I started to relax. This was the same Arthur that I'd been dating. Nothing had changed. Not really. I loved him. Yeah, I was still nervous. But I was pretty sure that he was nervous, too.

Arthur pulled me closer suddenly, pressing a soft kiss to the top of my head. I turned my head toward him and kissed him fiercely. On the lips.

Our kiss got heated. Way heated. Our tongues fought together, and then Arthur's hand was on my lower back, reaching under my shirt. My heart started pounding when he gently pulled my shirt off. I'd never let Arthur see me in just my bra. I blushed furiously.

And my magic began acting up, causing the lamp to flick on and off.

I ducked my head, humiliated.

Arthur laughed, stroking my cheek. "Don't be embarrassed. I kind of…love it. The way your magic gets out of control when your emotions are a bit out of control."

"Really?" I asked. I wasn't sure if I actually believed that. He was probably just saying it to try to make me feel better.

"Really." He kissed me again. "I truly do love it. I love you."

"I love you, too."

I moved so I was sitting in his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing against him as much as I could. Arthur stood up, lifting me in his arms.

I squealed, tightening my hold on him as he carried me toward the bedroom.

**Hope you all enjoyed it. Keep an eye out for the sequel.**


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